KINGFIELD — Kingfield’s School Option Committee wants to know what other towns are thinking before proceding on a plan to withdraw from RSU 58.

The committee received approval from the Maine Department of Education to pursue a plan to withdraw from the RSU 58 district and develop a plan to reorganize as a stand-alone district or as part of another district or community school system. First, they hope to solicit feedback from the towns who would be left to support the district if they withdrew.

“We would like to know the feelings of the people of Strong, Phillips and Avon,” committee member Fulton Ryan said.

RSU 58’s 2013-14 budget of $5,481,043 is not entirely paid by the four towns. Each town raises a percentage based on its property valuation, and the Maine Department of Education pays the rest. Since Kingfield has a higher property valuation than the other three towns, the town currently pays 90 percent of its obligation with taxpayer dollars and the state pays the remaining 10 percent. When the town begins to pay 100 percent of its obligation, that amount is “capped” at the state level.

The town of Strong pays 35 percent of its $1.9 million obligation; Phillips pays 40 percent of its $1.6 million obligation; and Avon pays 52 percent of its $623,194 obligation.

Kingfield Elementary School also generates revenue, the committee learned on Thursday night. Of the 140 students, 55 students come from Wyman, Lexington, Lang, Madrid, Salem and Freeman townships, from Coplin and Highland plantations and from the town of Carrabassett Valley. The Maine Department of Education reimburses the district $9,078 for each of those non-resident students, so approximately $500,000 would no longer go to the district if Kingfield withdrew.

The committee discussed alternatives to staying with the district, including joining with the town of Carrabassett Valley, which has its own school board and pays tuition for its students to attend Kingfield Elementary School and Mt. Abram High School.

The committee also reviewed options to join or send students to RSU 74 or RSU 9, combine with the new Eustis district or form a charter school. Charter schools are public schools that students can choose to attend as an alternative to traditional public schools. The concept, approved in 2011, could draw students from other towns, states and even countries, if it provides a quality education.

Carrabassett Valley Academy, a private school, is not interested in having students attend a day program if they aeren’t enrolled in the ski programs, according to committee member Brian Hatfield.

Not everyone at the meeting wanted to see the town make a hasty decision to leave the district, but all agreed the current costs to support the district were untenable.

“If this district wants to dissolve, this district should stand up together,” committee Vice-Chairwoman Heather Moody said.

She suggested that Kingfield could be seen as the “bad guy” by other towns for considering secession, but few people have heard specific concerns from community members. Committee member David Holmes suggested that Kingfield, Strong and Phillips could plan to add one high school grade per year by retaining ninth-graders the first year and absorbing another high school grade annually until all four grades are under one roof.

“We don’t need all this stuff that we’ve come to think we need to give students a good education,” Holmes said.

Holmes will present the committee with the details of that option but stressed that the school board would be the conduit for considering those details.

“Our goal should be exploring all options, because we don’t know all the facts,” committee secretary Robin Konieczko said. “We need to do our homework.”

The committee agreed to encourage Phillips, Avon and Strong to join Kingfield in open discussions of the future of the district. Moody explained that the state has valued Mt. Abram High School in Salem Township at $4.3 million, but it’s the only school in the state located in a township rather than in a town. The property also contains a valuable reserve of gravel that could be excavated and sold to benefit the district. She suggested the four towns who own the building and land decide together what to do with it. If the high school added programs to become an area trade school, students might be willing to stay in the area.

The committee also acknowledged that residents of district communities are afraid to challenge the existing district’s structure, because they often have family members and friends who work in the district and fear jeopardizing their jobs.

Superintendent Brenda Stevens recently presented school board directors three suggestions to reduce building costs and said she will provide them with financial information at the next meeting.

One option retains Phillips, Kingfield and Strong’s elementary school buildings. Phillips would have 240 children in grades K through 8, and Kingfield would have 230 K through 8 students. The Strong school would become a high school for 230 students.

A second option suggests housing grades K through 8 in Strong, and keeping 230 high school students at Mt. Abram.

A third option would send all 700 district students to the Mt. Abram High School building. With all three options, the district would incur reconstruction costs, but the cost of transportation, building maintenance, staff salary and benefits would decrease dramatically.