Bath district’s plea for emergency funding to replace their fire damaged school has been rejected by the Maine Board of Education.

According to CBS 13, Dike Newell School’s 200 students have been using temporary classrooms for the past year after a fire damaged about 60% of the school in June of 2022.

The Maine Board of Education denied the town’s request for a new school, saying the state is already at its funding limit. The board did recommend moving forward the timeline for the next round of bids. Even with an earlier date however, the funds wouldn’t be available to the school until 2025.

According to The Times Record, the cause of the fire was arson committed by Allan Thomas Vigil of Bath, who was 30 at the time of his arrest.