Three of the five largest high schools in Aroostook County are exploring forming a singular regional high school for central Aroostook.
Presque Isle, Caribou High School and Fort Fairfield high schools submitted the first part of the application for a Maine Department of Education grant in October that would provide capital funding for the construction of the school, Ben Greenlaw, superintendent of MSAD 1, wrote in a letter published Thursday.
The school would include a career and technical high school, a higher education center offering courses and degrees from the University of Maine System and the Community College System, as well as a center providing industry-specific training.
“Filling out this application does not require us to commit to anything in the long term and each district reserves the right to back out at any point in the application process,” Greenlaw said. “It simply allows us to continue the conversation about the possibility of a shared regional high school and [career and technical education] center.”
The three high schools have a combined enrollment of around 1,050 students, according to data from the Maine DOE. Presque Isle and Caribou high schools — the two largest in Aroostook County — had 470 and 430 students enrolled, respectively, in 2024, the most recent available data.
Greenlaw cited declining enrollment, aging school buildings and the increasing cost of education burdening local taxpayers as reasons the districts are considering consolidation. He also cited a struggle to hire qualified staff to teach in certain subjects such as math, science and foreign languages.
“These challenges have caused school and district leaders to consider the future of education in our region and how to ensure that we offer high quality educational programming to our students.”
The districts applied to the Integrated, Consolidated 9-16 Educational Facility pilot grant launched by the Maine Department of Education in 2024. The 9-16 designation denotes the presence of the higher education center within the school.
The second part of the grant application is due Oct. 31, 2026. The DOE will announce dates in December for “in-person community conversations” in regions where districts submitted the first part of the application, a note on its website says. The grant will go to a single pilot project.
The three central Aroostook districts are not alone in pursuing consolidation through the grant. The central Maine districts that oversee Dexter Regional High School, Piscataquis Community High School and the career and technical center the schools share announced their application in November.
“Taking into consideration the times that we are living in with budget and dropping enrollment and being conscientious of the taxpayers, we have to explore all opportunities,” Caribou-based RSU 39 Superintendent Jane McCall said. “This is another one that potentially could be not only a cost savings but it could be a good offering for our students as well.”
RSU 39 was among a number of school districts throughout the state that faced a budget crisis this summer amid failed validation referendums. The district had never had a budget rejected by voters until this year, where two failed at referendums before passing on a third vote in September.
It’s unclear where the new school would be located if the districts moved forward with the grant process. That’s among the many things to be worked out over the next 10 months, McCall said.
“Between this point and October we will be sitting down and having discussions such as the location and how does the funding for something like this work,” McCall said. “Do we pay tuition? Is it its own separate entity? Does it have its own board and its own superintendent, you know, there are all of those intricacies.”
Fort Fairfield-based MSAD 20 Superintendent Melanie Blais did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
