A Lincoln County Superior Court justice has denied the effort of Boothbay-area residents who had sued to overturn a $30 million bond voters approved for school repairs.
Residents approved the bond in April after voting against a larger one for both repairs and a new high school building. In response, several residents filed a petition in May calling for the reconsideration of the bond and a replacement bond that would be rewritten to not exceed $10.3 million.
The case has illustrated the tensions that can emerge when schools ask residents to help pay for upkeep of their increasingly aged buildings, with many sitting on a years-long waitlist to receive state funding for that work.
The Boothbay-area petitioners claimed that the region’s school board had deprived them of their First Amendment rights when denying a petition to reconsider and replace the bond.
The bond covered the costs of repairs and an expansion of Boothbay Region Elementary School, which also includes middle school students.
After the district’s board denied the petition, which was signed by 347 residents, the plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in June.
In a Dec. 31 decision, Justice Deborah Cashman wrote that because the petition consisted of two parts — one question to repeal the bond and another to replace it — the petition “does not meet the common-sense definition of ‘reconsideration,’ and the Board has no obligation to hold a referendum to reconsider the 2024 bond question.”
Cashman also said the inclusion of two parts to the petition “obscures the signers’ intent and understanding of the Petition’s purpose.”
The superintendent of the district, Robert Kahler, told the Boothbay Register that the district was “pleased with the decision.”
The attorney for the plaintiffs, Kristin Collins, told the paper that they are considering an appeal.
