enlarge Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Superintendent William Shuttleworth says the local Bath-School Union 47 merger has always been about improving the quality of education.

enlarge Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Iride Piechocki, clinical assistant, right, and Nicole De Rosa, case manager, work with students in the ACHIEVE program Wednesday in the Bath school administrative office building. Voters in six Midcoast communities will decide whether to merge on Nov. 6.

enlarge Gordon Chibroski/Staff Photographer

Susan Perrine, left, picks up an application from Karla Burnham at the School Union 47 central business office last week. Under the merger, one of the central business offices in the six communities, most likely West Bath’s, will be closed, and six positions cut.

SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION

The six communities considering a merger between the Bath and School Union 47 districts have different demographics, student populations and property valuations, which affect how their school costs would be shared under the local and state consolidation laws.

ARROWSIC

Population: 477

School population: 57

*Percentage of low-income students: 21 percent

Municipal property valuation: $77.8 million

Local school costs before merger: $408,872

Local school costs after merger, under local law: Down $29,387

Under state law: Up $41,045

Schools: 0

BATH

Population: 9,266

School population: 1,250

Percentage of low-income students: 44 percent

Municipal property valuation: $936 million

Local school costs before merger: $7,641,476

Local school costs after merger: Up $124,018

Under state law: Down $186,606

Schools: Four (2 elementary, 1 middle, 1 high school)

GEORGETOWN

Population: 1,020

School population: 117

*Percentage of low-income students: 21 percent

Municipal property valuation: $490 million

Local school costs before merger: $1,221,254

Local school costs after merger: Up $171,838

Under state law: Down $134,589

Schools: One (elementary)

PHIPPSBURG

Population: 2,106

School population: 302

Percentage of low-income students: 24 percent

Municipal property valuation: $564 million

Local school costs before merger: $2,674,546

Local school costs after merger: Down $390,617

Under state law: Up $235,245

Schools: One (elementary)

WEST BATH

Population: 1,798

School population: 298

Percentage of low-income students: 23.5 percent

Municipal property valuation: $316 million

Local school costs before merger: $2,327,245

Local school costs after merger: Down $439,271

Under state law: Down $197,309

Schools: One (elementary)

WOOLWICH

Population: 2,810

School population: 429

Percentage of low-income students: 14 percent

Municipal property valuation: $318 million

Local school costs before merger: $2,551,563

Local school costs after merger: Up $33,613

Under state law: Down $287,593

Schools: One (elementary-middle combined)

* Based on the student population at Georgetown Central School, which serves both Arrowsic and Georgetown.

Sources: Bath and School Union 47, Maine State Planning Office, Maine Department of Education

If the town merges with the other five communities under a special local law, taxes will go up.

If it merges with the towns under the state's new school district consolidation law, taxes will go down.

If Georgetown drops out of the merger to go it alone, it would lose all of the efficiencies, such as bulk buying, now gained through School Union 47, and half of the $378,000 special- education reimbursement received from the state.

"That is what makes it so difficult," said Bob Trabona of Georgetown.

Bath and School Union 47 are on the fast track when it comes to school district consolidation. Although the rest of the state won't vote on district merger plans until next year, voters in Georgetown, Bath and four other Midcoast communities will decide whether to consolidate on Nov. 6.

The merger of the six communities has been in the works for two years. The proposal is now being held up by state education officials as a model for other school districts, which are required to consolidate under a new state law.

And as a model, the Bath and School Union 47 proposal highlights how messy merging can be. Issues of local control, the fairness of sharing another community's debt and the fear of change dominate some of the community discussions leading up to the vote.

Whether voters in the six communities will approve the proposal -- it must pass in Bath and at least three School Union 47 towns to move forward -- remains very much up in the air.

Two years into the process, the arguments in Bath and School Union 47 for and against are the same ones being sounded out in communities just beginning the process.

Merger proponents say their proposal might not be perfect, but it will save money and improve the quality of education in the region. Opponents say the merger will cost money and erode the quality of schools that do not need fixing.

The six communities are located along the peninsulas and islands around the Kennebec and New Meadows rivers. Like many communities across the state looking at consolidation, they are not necessarily alike.

Bath serves as the hub of the region, with a revitalized downtown that draws tourists attracted to the city's 19th century architecture. The School Union 47 towns of Arrowsic, Georgetown, Phippsburg, West Bath and Woolwich are rural, and their populations surge with summer residents.

Each of the municipalities has its own school committee, and School Union 47 has its own board. The two districts have separate offices and staffs, but they share a superintendent, William Shuttleworth, who, with seven different school committees, attends meetings almost every night of the week.

The six communities were part of the same district until 1991, when the arrangement fell apart largely because voters in what is now School Union 47 felt that Bath voters, who outnumbered them, were dominating school district decisions.

The School Union 47 towns continued to send most of their high school students to Bath's Morse High School, and concerns about the lack of School Union 47 representation in high school decisions lingered. School Union 47 students make up half of the enrollment at Morse High School and bring in $3.5 million in tuition money.

Two years ago, the districts began to explore how to give School Union 47 some control over the high school, and the merger idea was hatched. Those involved in the planning said the idea was based on boosting the quality of education by offering a districtwide curriculum, making foreign language part of elementary school, adding before- and after-school day care, building a new high school and extending the school year.

"The only reason for (the local merger) was to...