Holds off on recommending or not recommending school reorganization vote until Vice Chair McKenzie Jewett is present
Sep 10, 2026
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by First National Wealth Management.
TREMONT—As the governing bodies of AOS 91 member towns are authorizing placing a question regarding school reorganization on town ballots for the November 3 vote, discussion surrounding the merits, or lack thereof, of that reorganization abounds.
Tuesday was Tremont’s turn and at its September 8 meeting, the Tremont Select Board heard a presentation from Jessica Stewart on the potential reorganization of AOS 91 to an RSU.
“The goal was to try to figure out how we could provide the best possible education and in a way that made the most financial sense, to make sure that we were trying to serve kids, every single kid across the district, with equal opportunity in a fiscally responsible way. That was kind of our starting charge,” said AOS 91 School Board Chair Jessica Stewart. “The children are our north star.”
Stewart is also a member of the AOS 91 Reorganization Planning Committee (RPC) and Tremont School Board.
“The AOS was a solution that arose when there was this attempt to push our school districts into one very large RSU that would have encompassed all the way up to like north Ellsworth and east into Washington County. So, as a response to that, the AOS 91 was formed and it’s kind of a hybrid system,” Stewart said. “In many ways there are a lot of strains on that system because we are still like very small school districts, chasing the old challenges in providing advanced math instruction, at the middle level, for every single student. We face, as many of you know, many transportation challenges in Tremont and across the AOS.”
Stewart went on to say that there are many administrative inefficiencies as well that create repetition of many tasks such as audits and grant applications.
“There are even grants that we don’t apply for as a district because they would create too much reporting and too much bureaucratic burden for each of our small districts,” Stewart said.
After Stewart finished making her presentation via a printed copy of the AOS 91 Reorganization Plan: Core Elements, Select Board Chair Jamie Thurlow opened the floor to comments from the Select Board or members of the public.
From the audience, Tremont resident Mike Hays said, “What I read here is that everything is good, nothing changes, it all gets better. But, what I see is that the Town of Bar Harbor wishes to saddle every community on this island with the capital costs of an elementary school whose costs rival that of most major universities. This is nonsense. This is nonsense. We didn’t sign up to support their bad decision. Now they want us to support their bad decision with our tax dollars. I am opposed to this. I think it’s outrageous and I would recommend to the Board of Selectmen that you pass, because you are required to place the question on, but that you do a not recommend passage. Thank you.”
The Town of Bar Harbor’s town council and its warrant committee have come out recommending against the plan though it would distribute debt burdens across the system. The Bar Harbor School Committee had a split vote recommending the plan.
GOVERNANCE
If the reorganization is approved, the governing body of the new RSU becomes a 15-member board where people vote for other town’s board members. That is the board with the power to govern. The members of the board will be residents of the town they represent, but the voting will be at large. This means that the names of candidates for the board, no matter what town they represent, will be on every towns’ ballot to be voted on. They will not be voted on solely by other members of the town they represent.
Votes on budgets will be at the district level and separate from traditional town meeting’s budget developments and votes.
But there would also be local school advisory councils—separate from the governing board—that provide input on the hiring process for school administration hires. These advisory councils will no longer have the decision making powers that individual school boards currently have.
Thurlow commented that this new governance system is one of his biggest concerns and cited Tremont’s need for either a very major renovation or brand-new building as an example.
“My biggest fear is that we are going to lose local control. Because now you have to sell this to the whole island. We have two votes on a board, that’s all Tremont carries is two votes. So, the rest of the schools could easily vote no. So, we could need, say we need, a new school, we decided, yep, the town needs a school, it could take years, and years, and years to get that school because you have to sell it to the rest of the island,” Thurlow said.
THE FINANCIAL ENGINE
DEBT ASSUMPTION
“All capital debt would be shared amongst the RSU. Any new capital that accrues, like if Tremont does a massive renovation or new school building, which as we know is on the horizon here one way or the other, that debt will be shared across the RSU and the RSU would absorb all debt, capital and operational debt, that currently exists,” Stewart said.
This means that if approved by voters, the new RSU will be taking on Bar Harbor’s new school building debt and Mount Desert’s current renovations debt. These debts will be spread across all of the town’s in the RSU for repayment.
Also, any new debt, such as new school building in Tremont, will be spread across all of the town’s in the RSU for repayment.
Select Board member Ben Harper asked if the Tremont school needed more space or a new building.
Stewart responded that Tremont needs either a very major renovation or a new building.
COST SHARING AND TAX FAIRNESS
Stewart explained the cost sharing formula by saying, “You may remember that we have gone through a few iterations but we settled on the high school formula which is 67% valuation and 33% enrollment in order to try to find a funding formula that is fair to taxpayers across the district. A homeowner with a $500,000 home, no matter where it was in the RSU, would pay as close to possible as the same. If you lived in Mount Desert, if you lived in Trenton, Tremont, Swans Island, you would pay approximately the same share towards education, which as people know, is not the case currently.”
For four of the member towns this represents an increase in taxes, but for the other four towns this represents a projected reduction in education related taxes.
According to the planning committees projections, for a Tremont property owner with a home with an assessed value of $450,000 and assuming all of the current debt from both Bar Harbor and Mount Desert, a Tremont tax payers education related taxes would go down by $758 per year.
Harper asked, “Who came up with these savings? Where did you get the savings for the people of Tremont?”
“You mean the formula? Who came up with that? Rob Liebow created a document that has a calculator on it that is what we used to come up with those numbers,” said RPC member Keri Hayes.
“So, if you don’t have a budget yet,” Harper asked, “How could you come up with those numbers?”
Stewart responded that the committee is using the current school budgets and tax bills for the savings calculations because it is very hard to compute a future budget without having gone through the budget process first. It is based on the percentage of the total proposed RSU budget that Tremont pays based on the proposed funding formula.
Another audience member said, “And I am sorry, but a $1,000 savings and we lose all control, it’s not worth it.”
“That is a legitimate perspective,” Stewart said. “People might feel like, you know, they prefer the local control. That’s, if that’s the most important priority, then I think a person who feels that way should vote against it. I feel like it’s in the best interest of the kids but if that is truly any individuals, I mean that is a fair perspective and it makes sense to vote against it.”
FUNDS AND RESERVES
“As to the funds and reserves, there would be a combined pre-K to 8 bus and building reserve and special education AOS reserve. That would just roll over because the AOS special education reserve is quite healthy now. So, the local special education reserves would be returned to the town’s to do whatever they saw fit. Like Tremont’s special education reserve would just come back and you all would figure out how to disperse that money,” Stewart said.
Stewart added that “the high school reserve would be kept separate and be its own capital improvement reserve.”
SCHOOL BUILDING AND LAND OWNERSHIP
Under the proposed RSU plan, the RSU assumes ownership of the school’s physical buildings and real property. The RSU also assumes all maintenance and upkeep and associated costs.
One of the finer points about the potential plan is that each school would no longer belong to its town, but to the RSU as a whole. This includes the land that the school is on, not just the building, which hasn’t been clear to some officials in different towns.
In a July 15 email to School Superintendent Micheal Zboray, the Bar Harbor Story had confirmed with Zboray that the parcels (land) would also convey.
The town would have a voice if the RSU suggested closing the school—as a school—entirely.
REFERENDUM SCENARIOS
If the referendum passes, the RSU would become effective July 1, 2028 after a one year transition period.
In order for the referendum to pass, Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, and Trenton all would need to pass it. If one of these towns does not pass the referendum, it does not pass.
The outer islands do not need to pass the referendum for it to pass and there are two different scenarios, as shown below, if one or more outer islands does not pass it.
“I agree that something does need to happen. Something needs to change, I understand that needs to happen, but I just don’t, I am not sold that this is going to help the average kid,” said Thurlow. “As this is proposed, I don’t see that it’s going to affect a child’s, well as you said, it won’t affect the day to day stuff.”
Member Eric Eaton said that he thinks that each town should have equal representation on the RSU board regardless of population base and that he has heard about people from other towns being very upset about this issue.
After some discussion about whether or not the Select Board could move the question to the ballot without making a recommendation, Harper said that he thinks that the board should follow precedent which is to make a recommendation on ballot issues.
Chair Thurlow said that he agrees with Harper on that issue if for no other reason than the town would be handing over town property to the RSU.
The Bbard decided to move the question to the ballot but wait on a decision to recommend or not recommend until Vice Chair McKenzie Jewett was present.
Harper made a motion to place the question “Do you favor approving the school administrative reorganization plan prepared by the MDIRSS-AOS #91 Reorganization Planning Committee to reorganize Trenton, Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, Mount Desert, Swan’s Island, Cranberry Isles, and Frenchboro into a Regional School Unit with an effective date of 7/1/2028?” on a ballot for the November 3, 2026 election.”
The motion passed 3-1 with Harper voting against.
Jewett had an excused absence for this meeting.
The next Tremont Select Board meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 21, 2026, at 5 p.m., in the Harvey Kelley Meeting Room in the town office.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
MDIRSS REORGANIZATION PLAN PAGE
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