STRONG — More than 60 residents attended a public hearing Monday on a proposal for the town to withdraw from Maine School Administrative District 58, which includes Strong, Avon, Kingfield and Phillips.

Residents submitted a petition asking the Select Board to officially start the withdrawal process.

Residents of the other district towns are also considering withdrawal.

Strong voters will cast ballots on the issue from 1-6 p.m. May 8 at the Forster Memorial Building at 14 South Main St., which is attached to the Town Office.

Voters will be asked if they favor filing a petition for withdrawal with the MSAD 58 board of directors and with the state commissioner of education. It would authorize the withdrawal committee to spend $75,000 from the town’s surplus and the Select Board to issue notes not to exceed $75,000 from surplus for this purpose.

“We have to vote to continue the process, which allows us to find out the numbers to know if (withdrawal) is feasible or not,” school board member Amanda Coolong of Strong said. “We need to find out if it fits for us to withdraw from the district.”

“The only ask on the table is should we conduct a formal study to get the official data needed to make an educated decision,” she said. “It is not a vote to withdraw from MSAD 58. It is going to give the town access to the information.”

Residents can stop the process anytime with a vote, Coolong said.

If voters choose not to study the issue, the town will not get the official dollar amounts and related information needed to make a decision, Susan Pratt, a school board member from Strong, said.

Coolong and Pratt gave a presentation at the request of the Select Board, Chairman Rupert Pratt, Pratt’s husband, said.

Information will be posted on the town website strong-maine.com to keep the process completely transparent, Coolong said.

She said they know student enrollment is declining a lot and the school board is researching scenarios to close schools because the district needs to consolidate.

“We can research if it’s feasible to keep our school open,” Coolong said.

In 2014, the district’s prekindergarten to grade 12 enrollment was 740 students. By 2023, it was 587, she said.

The current enrollment is 212 at Mt. Abram High School in Salem Township; 141 at Day Mountain Middle School in Strong; 119 at Phillips Elementary School and 95 at Kingfield Elementary schools.

The New England School Development Council projects that by 2033-34, there will be another 23% decrease, leaving about 450 pupils districtwide, Coolong said.

MSAD 58 has too many buildings, and not enough students, Coolong said.

When student population goes down, the cost per student goes up, she said. MSAD 58’s cost per pupil in 2023-24 was $21,151, while the statewide average was $20,139, according to the Maine Department of Education.

The district is also facing $11.5 million in repairs over the next five years and more than $35 million in repairs over the next decade, Coolong said. Of the $11.5 million in repairs, about $4.5 million deal with safety, performance and integrity issues with components or systems that have already broken or are nearing the end of expected use.

Maine’s school funding formula is based a lot on student enrollment, Pratt said. Strong has the most students enrolled in the district and the town’s allocation is nearly $2.8 million. The formula also factors town valuation.

Three years ago, the district reconfigured its schools, with the Strong Elementary School being turned into Day Mountain Middle School, and the district splitting up families, Pratt said. If voters decide to withdraw from the school district, they can bring their youngest children back to town, she said.

Strong “would regain local control of our children’s overall educational experience from curriculum to staffing, policies and upkeep of their school building,” Pratt said.

Of the town’s tax assessment, 80% of it goes to support education, she said.

Strong could work with neighboring towns such as Phillips and Avon to form an alternative organizational structure to share services, including administrative staff. The Regional School Unit 9 superintendent has also confirmed that it has room for the town’s high school students if they want the choice to attend Mt. Blue Regional High School in Farmington, Pratt said. There would be school choice, she said, including attending other districts through a tuition agreement.

“There is a lot we don’t know,” Coolong said, including actual costs. If the town is already involved with debt service from the district, it would still have to pay that debt if it leaves the district, she said.

A committee would be appointed by the Select Board to study the issue with all meetings open to the public.

“We will do it all together,” she said.