WINSLOW — No matter how residents vote on Alternative Organizational Structure 92’s 2018-19 budget Wednesday night at the board’s meeting, the budget might never go into effect.

The school district representing Vassalboro, Winslow and Waterville is in the process of creating a plan to dissolve itself so that it can pursue a restructuring as a regional service center. The question of dissolving the AOS is expected to go before voters during a March special election. If the voters approve the budget but then dissolve the district, the budget essentially will be void.

At that point, the budgets created by each community’s respective school system will be the budgets that those communities vote on and what eventually will go into effect on July 1, 2018, when the next fiscal year begins.

However, in case the AOS remains intact, the board is proposing a budget for the next fiscal year. The specific figures from that proposed budget were unavailable Tuesday evening.

Residents will be able to ask questions about the budget and how restructuring as a service center would affect each municipality’s budget at the meeting, which will be held at 6 p.m. at Winslow Junior High School.

The new system that the district is pursuing in lieu of an AOS, a regional service center, is a school system structuring model being pushed by the state Department of Education. State officials say having local school systems regionalize and share some of their services should maximize efficiencies in districts. Some of the restructuring would include contracting out administrative works, such as tasks relating to payroll and accounts payable, to other regional service centers. AOS 92 is interested in the restructuring so that it can secure a reimbursement from the state for the cost of the district’s system administration.

Superintendent Eric Haley told the Morning Sentinel in an interview last Thursday that the plan to dissolve the district should be complete by the last week of December. The AOS 92 board then would hold a special meeting to approve the plan. If the board approves the plan, it is expected to go to the state education commissioner in early January. If the commissioner’s office approves the plan, it will be on the ballot as a referendum during a special election tentatively scheduled for March 13. It then would take a majority of only one municipalitiy’s voters favoring the proposal to dissolve the district.

Emily Higginbotham — 861-9239

ehigginbotham@centralmaine.com

Twitter: Emily Higg