SALEM — Maine School Administrative District 58 directors approved an agreement last week that would allow Strong to potentially withdraw from the district, likely setting up a vote in the town later this year.
The board voted 7 to 2 to approve the agreement on July 9, which passed with a combined weighted vote total of 498 to 164. Directors Jessie Stinchfield of Strong and newly-elected Director Joan Reed of Strong voted against approving the agreement. Director Andrea Vadell of Phillips, also attending her first board meeting, abstained from the vote.
Superintendent Laura Columbia said at that meeting that the agreement was similar to the one the board approved for Kingfield in late June.
If approved by the state and then Strong voters in November, the town would leave MSAD 58 and form a Strong School Administrative Unit, with a five-director board elected within 180 days of the withdrawal vote. Until that board is formed, the Strong Withdrawal Committee would oversee the creation of the new SAU.
Elementary students from Strong who are attending MSAD 58 schools in Phillips or Kingfield could continue to attend those schools until the end of the school year in 2028. Similarly, MSAD 58 elementary students from outside Strong could continue to attend Day Mountain Regional Middle School through 2028. After 2028, superintendent agreements would be required to place those MSAD 58 and Strong SAU students in schools outside of their districts.
Strong secondary students would be able to attend high school classes at either Mount Abram, Mt. Blue High School in Regional School Unit 9 or Carrabec High School in RSU 74.
After 2028, Strong SAU would pay 105 percent of the state’s tuition rate to send students to those three schools, through 2037.
The boards at RSU 9 and RSU 74 approved accepting Strong SAU students on March 10 and March 4, respectively.
Unlike Kingfield’s agreement, Strong proposes to transport students to any of those three schools for at least 10 years. Strong students attending Foster Career and Technical Center would continue to be transported as they are now.
As part of the agreement, the Strong SAU would receive four school buses from MSAD 58.
It would also receive deeds to the two pieces of property that make up the campus of the Day Mountain Regional Middle School, formerly the Strong Elementary School. That would become a pre-K through grade 8 school if the town leaves the district.
The agreement also includes language about splitting up the district’s debt, with Strong SAU taking on a 24.6 percent proportional share. The SAU would receive 15 percent of MSAD 58’s audited fund balances as of June 30, 2027.
Strong will also contribute a 2-year proportional share toward Columbia’s contract, which concludes on June 30, 2030. Strong would hire its own part-time superintendent if residents vote to withdraw.
The withdrawal committee has drawn up a $4.1 million budget estimate as part of the plan, which calls for 8 teachers to educate roughly 85 primary students.
The plan utilized birth rates to project Strong having a total of 141 students in primary and secondary classes next year, with that number dropping to 113 by 2031.
Similar to Kingfield’s proposal, Strong would utilize multi-grade classrooms. Pre-K through grade 4 students would be educated in self-contained classrooms, while grades 5 through 8 would have multiple teachers responsible for different disciplines. The plan includes bus drivers, custodians, a full-time principal and a secretary, as well as part time administrators, guidance and nurse support staff, among others.
Sue Pratt, a member of the Strong Withdrawal Committee and the MSAD board, said that the draft budget in the plan would be roughly $500,000 less than what’s being paid now to educate Strong students. However, she stressed that the budget wasn’t final and would likely shift prior to the SAU getting up and running. For example, the state recently increased minimum teacher salaries — Pratt said that changes like those would need to be reflected in the SAU’s first budget.
The state Department of Education will review the agreement and work with the Strong committee to revise the document to meet state standards. Pratt noted that the DOE had already superficially reviewed the plan and hadn’t seen any significant issues.
“We should be on the same track as Kingfield,” Pratt said, referring to the potential of a vote this November.
Kingfield and Strong are both on step 9 of the 22-step process — having negotiated plans with MSAD 58 and submitted for state review. Phillips is still working on a plan and negotiations with that withdrawal committee and MSAD 58 haven’t been scheduled yet. Avon, the fourth town in MSAD 58, narrowly voted against exploring withdrawing from the district last July.
After receiving and incorporating the DOE feedback, a public hearing would be held in Strong prior to the November vote. At least two-thirds of those voting would need to approve the withdrawal, which would take effect on July 1, 2027.
Strong voters last addressed school withdrawal on May 8, 2025, when they voted 124 to 61 to begin the process.
