Recently, there has been media coverage of the proposed exclusive contract between SAD 63 and the Brewer School Department. Yet, there is a missing voice. Please read on to learn the Brewer story.

In October the SAD 63 superintendent approached the Brewer school administration about the possibility of an exclusive contract for SAD 63 secondary students. The SAD 63 school board wanted to see what a proposal might look like considering there is some community interest. Upon this request, the Brewer School Committee formed a subcommittee to create a draft contract.

The subcommittee’s proposal includes a phase-in process that would allow current high school students to graduate from the school they are presently attending. In the first year of the contract, all incoming freshmen would attend Brewer High School. This would continue with each freshman class until all SAD 63 students would be at Brewer High.

In this contract, Brewer continues to offer SAD 63 opportunities for input on high school issues. Outlined in the draft are procedures to promote open communication between the two superintendents, joint study of long-range needs and direction of Brewer High School, improved communication with students and parents before entering high school, coordination of the K-8 programs, and more comprehensive feedback to the SAD 63 board relative to the performance of its students at Brewer High School.

Consistent with the current efforts of the state, the subcommittee created an incentive for consolidation. The contract proposal offers a slight reduction in the tuition rate. After a careful review of the projected expenses vs. revenues, the percentage of tuition during the phase-in begins at 99 percent of the state average tuition rate and moves down to 95 percent of the tuition rate when 100 percent of the students are phased in. With Brewer’s current high school per pupil cost, the reduced tuition rate would still provide Brewer with increased revenues. The benefit of increased revenues allows us to improve our programs and to provide many academic and extracurricular offerings that otherwise may be impossible to fund.

One might ask how Brewer is able to offer a reduced tuition rate. The answer is in the economy of scale theory. Brewer will have expenses that will not increase even if there are more tuition students. Some of these expenses include: heat, electricity, insurance, sports, extracurricular offerings, and central office administrative costs. Brewer can offer the reduced tuition rate because the extra revenue generated would be more than the added costs of educating more students. It is possible to assimilate extra students without proportionate program costs. This would allow for a cost savings for the taxpayers of both Brewer and SAD 63.

An exclusive contract would provide cost savings similar to a school consolidation effort. There would be a cost savings for Brewer due to the increased revenues. There would be a cost savings for SAD 63 due to the 99 percent to 95 percent tuition rates and not having to pay the insured value factor costs for a private school. There would be a cost savings to the state without the insured value factor reimbursement. It should be noted that this contract may need to be altered if the new Essential Programs and Services funding model were to be implemented.

We applaud SAD 63 for taking the time to reflect upon the best way to educate the children in their communities. The Brewer School Department follows this same procedure to monitor our own progress. My concerns are that in this process there have been comparisons between Brewer High School and other high schools that do not tell the whole story.

Brewer High School is a comprehensive school that offers programs for all levels of students. John Bapst is a college preparatory private school with entrance criteria. The comparisons that have been made between the two are inequitable resulting in erroneous conclusions. To make a true comparison, Brewer would need to report only our college-bound students in our graduation rates and our percentage of students going on to college. If we did this, I am sure the numbers would be comparable because then we would be comparing apples to apples.

For example, our college preparatory advanced placement program is topnotch. How does our advanced placement program compare? Currently, there are 251 students enrolled in 15 sections of 12 AP classes. Brewer’s 251 students enrolled in AP classes compares favorably with Bangor’s 330 students in AP classes. One hundred and eight of the 144 AP exams taken last year (a 75 percent success rate) earned college credit. Recently, 15 Brewer High students have earned AP scholar awards in comparison to Bangor’s 19 AP scholars. Brewer offers 12 AP courses, Bangor offers 15, John Bapst 11, Old Town 9, Hampden 9, Orono 4 and Hermon 1.

Our college preparatory program is as strong as are our programs for students who need specialized instruction. When we report our data on graduation rates and percentages of students going on to college, all Brewer High School students are included. Of the schools mentioned, Brewer High School and Old Town High School are the only schools whose student body is comprised of approximately 50 percent tuition students from towns that offer choice. Brewer High is comprised of students from 20 different communities. The other high schools have different enrollment situations including contracts or smaller percentages of tuition students.

Whatever SAD 63 decides, we hope the individuals involved search for the balance of what is the best educational choice and the most economical choice. The Brewer School Committee and all Maine school districts face similar challenges as we attempt to make maximum use of shrinking resources. With the failure of both the federal and state governments to fully meet their educational funding commitments, the burden falls upon local taxpayers to compensate for the shortfall. A more reliable projection of the number of nonresident students would make estimation of tuition revenues more accurate allowing Brewer to make better programming plans.

The Brewer School Committee remains committed to the proposed draft contract. Yet, we want others to realize SAD 63 initiated the conversations about a possible contractual arrangement. We also want people to know that Brewer’s academic and extracurricular programs are successful and compare favorably to other public high schools. Every Maine student deserves the best education possible based on the amount of money available. I believe a contract has the potential to bring both SAD 63 and Brewer closer to meeting this ideal.

Betsy Webb is superintendent of schools for the Brewer School Department.