REGION — During the Oct. 17 Maine School Administrative District 58 board of directors meeting, board members discussed funding regarding Eustis students.

The town of Eustis separated from MSAD 58 to become its own school district in 2013. Eustis Public School District [EPSD] only provides schooling for pre-kindergarten through grade eight. It had to be decided which high school Eustis students would attend. For ten years, EPSD and MSAD 58 held a contract that EPSD would pay a tuition that was 5% higher than that required by the state. This contract recently expired, and EPSD requested that they be able to pay the state rate for tuition without the 5% increase.

Highland Plantation and Copland Plantation students are accepted at MSAD 58’s Mt. Abram High School and are both charged the state rate.

Board members discussed the fact that typically when a school district decides to stop accepting students, they must provide a 2-year notice beforehand, but since the contract has expired, it is no longer necessary. MSAD 58 would be able to stop accepting new students from outside their district for the incoming year if they chose to do so.

Currently there are 16 students from Eustis at Mt. Abram. At that rate, if MSAD 58 chose not to accept Eustis students anymore, they would lose about $167,000 in revenue if calculated with the state rate. $8,347 is further lost if the 5% decrease in tuition is added. The state rate for high school tuition is $10,343.04.

The MSAD 58 board of directors made the decision to continue accepting students from Eustis, at the state rate going forward.

In other news, 2018 Mt. Abram graduate Denesha Begin presented a fundraiser by Mainely Provisions that is focused on providing shoes and/or cleats to the MSAD 58 athletics program. The “Meat 4 Feet” fundraiser was met with hesitancy at the previous board meeting on Sept. 19.

Some weren’t sure about the name, others were worried that if the fundraiser was tied to the school district it would appear as though the district is supposed to be buying footwear for the athletics department, when it is not true. The MSAD 58 school district does not and has not ever bought shoes for students.

Begin said that the intention was to provide some financial relief to families with student athletes, as each pair of shoes can be $30-40 on average, which can be a big burden especially with younger kids whose feet continue to grow and change shoe sizes frequently. Another issue is that the nearest store to purchase the required footwear can be far from the area they live in.

The goal of the fundraiser is to provide at least 70 pairs of athletic footwear for student athletes in the MSAD 58 district. The fundraiser will sell $5 raffle tickets with a goal of $3,500, all proceeds would go toward the purchase of the shoes. Begin was there to ask for permission to do the fundraiser and also for help selling tickets at sports games. If started right away, they could have the shoes by basketball season. Once money is raised, all they will need is the families’ name, phone number, email, and the student’s shoe size. They are looking to make it an annual fundraiser, so any leftover funds can be added to the next year.

The raffle consists of five different prizes; four meat packages that range from $100 to $250, and a $250 electric dual smoker. Tickets will be sold at Mainely Convenience and Mainely Provisions. The names of the raffle winners would be revealed sometime in December, said Begin.

The board decided to continue with the fundraiser, as long as it is clear that it is not sponsored by the district.

Another fund-related topic that was discussed was the stipend for two new homeless liaison positions in the district. During a phone call, Superintendent Laura Columbia shared that she is the current liaison and that she was looking for approval of a stipend that a grant would pay for two positions that would report to her. The stipend would cover $1,000 for the kindergarten-fourth grade position and $$1,600 for that of grades five-12. The role of the homeless liaison would be to look for signs and identify students who have inadequate housing and find resources.

The stipend was approved and the district is posting the job online.