During an at capacity meeting at the Dennysville Town Office on July 29, residents voted to enter an exclusive contract to send their students to Pembroke Elementary School (PES). The 42 31 vote effectively ends school choice in Dennysville for the two year duration of the contract, a measure that enough residents felt was necessary to prevent a significant hike in the tax rate. The tax rate still will increase by 26%, from 19 to 24 mills, but without the tuition contract it would have increased by 58%, to 30 mills.
      The need to take action became apparent in May when the town had to hold a special town meeting to approve using $85,000 from the school's fund balance to cover an unexpected overage for regular and special education expenses. That additional cost was driven by the arrival of seven new students in Dennysville last year, bringing the number of elementary and high school youth in the town to a total of 39. At that point, the school committee was asked to research options, explained school committee chairman Nancy Curtis at the special town meeting. A contract with Pembroke emerged as a way to decrease tuition costs and lower the increase to the town's local share of the school budget. At the end of this school year, 15 Dennysville elementary students were attending the Edmunds Consolidated School, a state-operated school, and 10 were going to Pembroke.
      Two options were presented to voters, with the first being to maintain school choice with an associated increase to the town's local share of $231,186, or 109%. The second option was to sign an exclusive tuition contract with PES at a rate of $10,000 per student, down from the $16,250 tuition rate that PES could charge and lower than the $14,000 other offer as part of an agreement through PES. With the second option, the town's local share will increase by $131,164, or 62%.
      When questioned as to why no other options were presented for residents to vote on, Curtis said that there hadn't been enough time to research other alternatives and that Pembroke had the advantage in that it provides busing to Dennysville students already. The nearest other option within AOS 77 is Perry Elementary School, which is "unlikely" to be less expensive due to the addition of transportation costs, Curtis said.
      "You're the only town in the district with no school and no bus," advised Superintendent MaryEllen Day. "There aren't any other options that would be price effective."
      Amidst the voiced confusion of some at the meeting as to what the options and their associated ramifications were, a motion was made by resident Molly Calder to table the vote to give residents more time to review the options. However, that motion was ruled out of order due to another motion to accept the article as read already being on the floor. Calder later appealed that residents vote against the contract to let school choice continue as is and revisit the question next year.
      "We're past that point," said Bill Attick of the Dennysville school board.
      Asked to break down the effect of the options simply, town Tax Collector and Treasurer Bob Mercer explained that residents whose houses are valued at $100,000 would see a tax bill increase of $170 per mill. "If you take nothing out of reserves," Mercer said, referring to the town's $300,000 in contingency funds, "the mill rate will go from 19 to 24 if you sign the contract. If you don't sign, it will go from 19 to 30," he said, later clarifying that the rates were approximate but that the primary difference between the options was clear. "You have six mills sitting on the table."
      "We have a lot of kids, so no matter which way you vote, the taxes will go up," reminded First Selectman Scott Corey.
      Resident Dwight Lingley asked for further clarification of the tax increases based on what he was paying last year, which was $1,100. Mercer provided that, without pulling from the reserve and with school choice preserved, his taxes would be about $1,826, compared to about $1,461 with the PES tuition contract.
      "Do you want to pay more taxes or less taxes? You're going to get the same education at Edmunds as you will at Pembroke," said Brenda Harmon. "We haven't been to all the meetings, but we know what's going on. We're here to vote," she said to applause.
      Resident Alison Archer said that, if the vote went through, she would be homeschooling her daughter rather than send her to Pembroke. "The students are going to suffer in a lot of ways."
      "Edmunds and Dennysville, in my mind, are one community," said Jan Brown. "If we vote to send our kids to Pembroke, I think it will harm this community." She added that she has seen state schools close and that the Edmunds school could potentially close during the two-year contract period. "I'm on a fixed income. I don't want my taxes to go up. I understand everybody, but I'm also thinking about the community and what this school has meant to both of these towns."
      Attick said that the director of Education in Unorganized Territory (EUT) schools said that the Edmunds school would not close if Dennysville's students were withdrawn, to which Brown countered that she "had reason to believe that Edmunds could close within that time period."
      Others expressed concern that Pembroke could charge a higher cost after two years. Superintendent Day said that the tuition cost is set by the state and that Dennysville would be free to renegotiate when the contract expired. "It's not going to jump up a lot, because this is tuition money for them."
      After the votes were cast and counted, the decision in favor of going with the PES contract was met with weighted silence as those who remained considered the outcome.
      Pembroke residents must still approve the contract, the vote for which will be during the town meeting on Monday, August 12.