MILLINOCKET – Declining enrollments, the effect of the state’s budget crisis on education and the need to consolidate area schools are some of the issues facing the four residents seeking election to the school board.

The polls for municipal elections will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the high school gym.

Those seeking two three-year terms on the school board are incumbent Jane H. “Jayne” Bartley, Barbara J. “Bonnie” Deveau, incumbent Thomas M. Malcolm and Gilda Stratton.

Deveau, 49, director of business development at Penobscot Valley Hospital in Lincoln, said the biggest issue facing the school department is economics. “The whole Katahdin region is being stressed economically with the changes in employment, the aging population and people migrating out of the communities,” she said. “Our census and our tax base are falling.”

Deveau said one way to address the issue is by being creative and working with other communities to try to maintain a viable school system. She said the recent area school consolidation study had a lot of merit with which to move forward.

Bartley, 75, a retired teacher who is seeking a fourth term, said the major issue is addressing a steady decline in student enrollments. “I am hoping for consolidation,” she said. “I think it is the only way out.”

Bartley said if area schools are not combined, students will lose because the town will not be able to provide all of the current courses and all the extras they currently enjoy. “Consolidation could put the best of two schools together and will give the kids many more options than they will be able to do in a single school,” she said.

Malcolm, 49, an assistant fire chief, said the major concern in the area is school consolidation. He expects the state budget shortfall will affect Millinocket and neighboring towns.

Malcolm said he is concerned about the double effect declining student enrollments and the state budget deficit will have on state subsidy for education. He said the state budget deficit could mean less state subsidy, which will shift more costs to taxpayers. He said local tax rates would be hit, too. “We have to keep looking for alternatives whether it’s shared services as a start … to eventually get this system into one,” said Malcolm.

Stratton, 56, a paralegal, said consolidation is a very important issue considering the economic situation. She asked what would happen if the school’s resources were cut. “That is a concern of mine, yet when they [area officials] met on the issue of consolidation, they didn’t once mention children,” charged Stratton.

Stratton said to keep current education standards, people will have to pay more in taxes. “We can’t pay more, people will leave this community,” she said. She said she would always put children first and that she believes area school consolidation is important.