[Local-Maine-Schools] MDI High School funding formula public meeting, new web forum, and web poll

[Brian Hubbell]

*On Thursday, December 4, 2008, at 7:00PM*, the Mount Desert Island League
of Towns is sponsoring a public forum to discuss the funding formula for the
Mount Desert Island Regional High School. The forum will be held in the MDI
High School auditorium.

*Some background*

Mount Desert Island Regional High School
<http://www.mdihs.u98.k12.me.us/>is a quasi-municipal organization
formed by agreement between the four MDI
towns of Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, and Tremont.

The structure of the High School's governance and finance was negotiated
locally and then set by the state legislature as *AN ACT to Create a Mount
Desert Island Regional School
District*<http://mdischools.net/RPC/ActMDIHS.htm>,
a Private and Special Law enacted June 13, 1963

This act specifies both how each of the MDI town's is represented on the
governing school board, how the budgets are approved, and sets the formula
by which expenses are to be assessed to each municipality.

*For more detailed information:* Download this Powerpoint
presentation<http://mdischools.net/MDIHS_FundingFormula.ppt>on the
history and application of the funding formula along with cross-town
comparisons of effect on equivalent taxpayers. (WARNING: 32Mb *.ppt file)

*Some arguments for and against altering the formula*

   - Mount Desert resident George Peckham argues for less weight on
   valuation<http://mdislander.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8096&Itemid=40>
   - Mount Desert resident and MDIHS Board Chair Gail Marshall argues for
   fairness of existing
formula<http://mdischools.net/20081128_Marshall_MDIHS_FundingFormulaMeeting.htm>

*Comment and vote in a poll*

   MDI residents are encouraged to
register<http://forum.mdischools.net/user/register>and to post their
responses and to vote in the poll below.


   - Web poll: Per-pupil, valuation, or
combination?<http://forum.mdischools.net/FundingFormulaPoll>
      - Comment on this issue on the MDIschools.net web forum
      <http://forum.mdischools.net/FundingFormulaForum>
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