KINGFIELD — A discussion about the future of a changing school district drew more than 50 people to the elementary school Tuesday evening as Kingfield considers leaving Maine School Administrative District 58.
Residents are set to vote Nov. 3 on a proposal to withdraw from MSAD 58 and create a local school administrative unit, or SAU, to oversee Kingfield’s schools.
The alternative is to remain in the district, which is expected to unveil a two-campus model before the vote.
“Either way,” said Kathy Houston, chair of the Kingfield Withdrawal Committee, “the district’s going to change.”
MSAD 58 operates four schools: Kingfield Elementary School, Phillips Elementary School, Day Mountain Regional Middle School in Strong and Mt. Abram High School in Salem Township. Administrators and school board members have said the district spends too much on facilities rather than students and have expressed support for a two-campus model.
That would mean closing schools. An architecture firm hired by the district is reviewing its space and facility needs.
MSAD 58 officials have said they intend to provide a road map before the November votes in Kingfield and Strong.
Kim Jordan, a former MSAD 58 director and current member of the Board of Selectmen who serves on the withdrawal committee, said Superintendent Laura Columbia told her the district was considering a two-school model, with Mt. Abram serving students in sixth through 12th grade and another school serving students from prekindergarten through fifth grade.
Jordan said the withdrawal effort began after the district presented its 2025-26 budget, when Kingfield learned that its local share was projected to increase by $154,000.
Kingfield pays 40 percent of MSAD 58’s local share because of its comparatively higher valuation, despite accounting for 17 percent of the district’s students.
The town also knew that school closures were under consideration after Bureau Veritas, a consulting company that evaluates infrastructure needs, developed a strategic plan for the district. Some of the scenarios involved closing Kingfield Elementary School.
Committee members said Tuesday that the town had two viable options: remain in MSAD 58 or form its own SAU.
Mary Nodine, an MSAD 58 director and committee member, said the decision would depend on voters’ priorities.
“Is your priority to keep Kingfield school open and have a school in your town, and you lose your control of (MSAD 58)?” she asked. “Or is your priority to go with the district and economize?”
If two-thirds of Kingfield voters approve the withdrawal plan, they would elect a new board to oversee the school administrative unit before it begins operating July 1, 2027.
Kingfield would take ownership of Kingfield Elementary School, which would serve students from prekindergarten through eighth grade. The school’s employees would become town employees and continue working under existing bargaining agreements and the direction of the new board.
High school students would attend Mt. Abram, which would be required to accept Kingfield students. MSAD 58 would receive 105 percent of the state-set tuition rate under a 10-year agreement.
During the 2027-28 school year, students could continue attending the schools they had previously attended, as required by the state’s withdrawal process.
The SAU would acquire three buses from MSAD 58. Committee members said two would be needed for local routes, while the third could transport students from the unorganized territory to Kingfield.
Under the agreement, the SAU would receive 15 percent of MSAD 58’s undesignated funds. It would receive at least $300,000, which represented 15 percent of the district’s funds when the agreement was negotiated this spring.
A major advantage of leaving the district now, committee members stressed, is MSAD 58’s relatively low debt. Kingfield would be responsible for $27,000.
That could change if MSAD 58 pursued a campus reconfiguration. Jordan said her conversations with the state Department of Education’s facilities director indicated that state support for the project was unlikely because of needs across the state and limited funding.
Therefore, Jordan said, local taxpayers would have to cover the cost of a reconfiguration. Kingfield would be responsible for 40 percent of any resulting debt.
The draft budget developed by the committee — another requirement of the withdrawal process — would likely differ from the spending plan eventually developed by the SAU board. It does not include several potential sources of revenue, including tuition from students in the unorganized territory and federal grants.
The committee’s budget calls for $1.8 million to staff and maintain Kingfield Elementary School, or KES, and pay tuition for students attending Mt. Abram High School. That is $500,000 less than the $2.3 million Kingfield paid into MSAD 58 this year, but committee members and people in the audience cautioned against reading too much into the draft budget.
“We do feel that we could provide something comparable or for a little bit less than we’re currently paying,” Nodine said.
The committee’s draft budget is similar to Stratton School’s actual expenditures. That comparison is relevant because the Eustis-based school, which left MSAD 58 in 2013, serves students from prekindergarten through eighth grade and has a similar enrollment.
Those attending the forum generally praised the committee, which received several rounds of applause. They asked questions about topics ranging from transportation and class sizes to the structure of the SAU.
One of the main topics was Kingfield Elementary School’s future needs. A Bureau Veritas report found that the school is in good condition for the next few years but will require $6.1 million in work over the next 20 years.
As a one-town district, Kingfield would need to fund repairs and renovations without help from other towns. However, because the facilities across the district face similar needs, committee members pointed out that Kingfield would help pay for other schools if it remained in MSAD 58.
The future of Mt. Abram also was a prominent topic. District officials expressed concern at a recent board meeting that withdrawals by Kingfield and other towns could make it more difficult to keep the high school open.
Houston said it was “quite a drastic leap” to suggest that Mt. Abram would be in jeopardy if Kingfield withdrew from the district. The withdrawal agreement leaves MSAD 58 with most of its undesignated and reserve funds, and Houston said the district’s board would have at least two years to “right-size” the district.
Committee members also said they saw advantages to negotiating with MSAD 58 to provide additional support for keeping the high school open if Kingfield and Strong leave the district.
“If Strong withdrew and if Kingfield withdrew,” Houston said, noting that she was speaking only on behalf of Kingfield’s committee, “we would be more than happy to say: ‘OK, how can we negotiate with the people left in (MSAD) 58 to keep Mt. Abram open? We believe there (are) options.’”
The committee has consistently emphasized that keeping Mt. Abram open is a priority.
“It’s been really important to all of us from the very beginning that we do everything we can to keep Mt. Abram open and strong,” committee member Mathias Ringle said.
Strong is also set to vote on its own withdrawal plan Nov. 3. As discussed at a town meeting last month, Kingfield and Strong will vote simultaneously without knowing what the other town will decide. If Strong leaves MSAD 58 while Kingfield remains, Kingfield’s share of the local allocation would increase from 40 percent to between 50 and 55 percent.
MSAD 58 director Ashley Hopwood Farrar said it was risky to paint “too rosy of a picture” of what would happen if the town withdrew. Kingfield would lose its connection with the other towns, she said, and offering sports, music and drama programs could become more difficult with a smaller student population.
She contrasted the goal of being a good neighbor with the need to protect the town’s best interests, particularly by keeping KES open.
“I do believe there is a tipping point and we are pretty close to that, in my opinion,” she said of the decision to leave the district.
Protecting the school was a common theme among those who spoke. Ringle, who grew up in Dover-Foxcroft, recalled the negative impact of school closures in nearby towns.
“Once a town loses its school, that’s it,” he said.
If MSAD 58 attempted to close KES, the town would vote on whether to finance it independently for the following year. The school board would then have to vote each year on whether to close the school, repeating the process until the school closed or the board changed its decision.
At least two-thirds of those voting Nov. 3 must approve the withdrawal from MSAD 58 for the plan to take effect. If the proposal does not receive that support, the town would have to wait at least two years before trying again.
Houston said she hoped this year’s vote to begin the withdrawal process would produce a ratio similar to last year’s vote, when 145 people voted in favor and 35 opposed it. Because the November vote will coincide with national and state elections, turnout will likely be higher.
Mt. Blue Community Access TV recorded the meeting.
