Dear Editor:

A recent letter to the editor by Denise Griffin raised two big issues, both of which are unfortunately either misleading or inaccurate. Her statements about “ subsidizing” students from Edgecomb and Southport misses the point that tuition from these students results in approximately $1,000,000 in revenue to the CSD. That’s about 9% of our budget.

Also, we do not hire additional staff as a result of admitting these kids. They filter into slots in existing classes. Their presence does increase our student population, which does enable BRHS to offer specialized classes that might not otherwise be possible.

If we did not have that income, we would be forced to cut some programs, or raise taxes, neither of which we want to do. If we did not have these students in BRHS our course offerings would be the poorer for it.

Furthermore, she states that passing the $89 million building program would result in per-pupil costs of $40,000, which would be the highest in the state. This is totally inaccurate, and I would say, was written for the purpose of creating (a false) alarm. Building project costs are not figured into per pupil costs, though the interest rates are.

FYI, our latest calculated (fy22) per pupil costs are $23,089. This does put us in the top 100 communities in the state, though not in the top 50. Our costs are a reflection of our strong, experienced school staff and rich programming such as AP courses, STEM classes and robotics. That said, the state does record interest rate payments in per pupil costs. This is one line item in a mix of costs, and will rise if the bonds do pass, but they will be nowhere near double the current costs of education in the CSD, such as Griffin states.

Per pupil costs are largely calculated on the regular needs of the schools such as the costs of teachers, special education, education materials and other school staff. These will continue on as we maintain our excellent schools, whether the bond issues pass or not. And, having Southport and Edgecomb students in our schools increases our budget and enriches our school programs.

Bruce MacDonald

Member CSD School Committee

Boothbay