SAD 31 plans to reduce board by two seats

HOWLAND – The SAD 31 reapportionment committee this week adopted a plan to reduce the 19-member school board by two seats.

Under the proposed plan, which must be approved by the state’s education commissioner, J. Duke Albanese, the town of Howland will lose two of its six seats on the school board.

Within a week after the commissioner approves the plan, the law requires the school board to hold a meeting where the six Howland board members will choose by lot – drawing names from a hat or selecting straws – whose seats will be eliminated. Officials said members could elect to resign if they chose to do so.

Most committee members agreed the school board is too large, one of the biggest in the state. Some suggested it be reduced to 12 members, but others said going below 17 members would not meet the requirements of the law regarding the maximum weighed voting power of any single member.

Committee members said they did not want to see anyone leave the board and said they hated to lose any of the hardworking Howland members. The issue of school board apportionment came up as the result of the 2000 Census, which showed changes in the populations of the eight towns in SAD 31.

Between the 1990 census and the 2000 census, the populations of five of the eight school district towns went up. The population of Enfield, the largest town in the district, went up 9.5 percent, from 1,476 in 1990 to 1,616 in 2000. Lowell’s population went up by 9 percent, from 267 in 1990 to 291 in 2000. Maxfield’s went up by 3 percent, Seboeis Plantation went up 2.5 percent, and Maxfield went up 1.2 percent.

The population of three towns decreased. The population of Howland, the second-largest town in the school district, went down by 5.1 percent, from 1,435 to 1,362. Edinburg’s population dropped by 8.4 percent, and Burlington’s dropped by 2.5 percent.

Local school officials earlier asked state officials to consider reapportionment of the board. Last month, Albanese notified the district that the current board was not apportioned in accordance with the principles of one member, one vote. He requested that a committee made up of school board members, town officials and residents be formed and come up with a new plan within 90 days.

At its first meeting this week, the committee adopted a plan. Officials said that once it is approved by the commissioner, the plan would be effective immediately.

The SAD 31 board now has 19 seats: six in Howland; five in Enfield; two in Burlington; two in Passadumkeag; and one each in Edinburg, Lowell, Maxfield and Seboeis Plantation. Board members’ votes are weighted. With the exception of Howland, the number of board seats each of the seven other towns has on the board will not change.

The weighted votes of Maxfield, Passadumkeag and Seboeis Plantation will not change. However, the voting power of each member representing the other five towns will change. Burlington’s weighted vote will drop from 43 to 41 for each member. Edinburg’s will drop from 25 to 23. Enfield’s will increase from 70 to 75. Howland’s will increase from 57 to 79. Lowell’s will increase from 64 to 68 for each member.

During the meeting, Fern Cummings, chairman of the Lowell Board of Selectmen, said the population listed in the 2000 Census for the town was not correct. She said the town has seen a large influx of people – as many as 60. Committee members said that was not an issue they could address.