SAD 70 gets first look at budget

By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HODGDON — School officials in SAD 70 got their first glimpse of the proposed “zero increase” 2010-11 school budget Monday evening. And for the second straight year, the district will be seeking less money than the previous year.
    As presented by Superintendent Robert McDaniel, next year’s budget seeks $6,058,644 to cover expenses in the district. This figure is $190,205 less than the current year’s budget. Last year’s budget was down $140,000 from the 2008-09 budget. Over the past two years, the district has shaved $320,000 from its bottom line.
    “We’ve been able to weather the reductions thanks to federal stimulus money, but those funds run out next year,” McDaniel said. “This budget is a pretty tight budget. But we will still be able to keep the programs intact.”
    The school board will meet Monday, April 26 to vote on the budget. It will then go to a public meeting on May 27 before going to a referendum vote in June.
    Administrative salaries will see no increase next year. Most of the teaching salaries also will not feature increases, and the school board members reduced their stipend from $4,000 to $3,000.
    “We just can’t the moment afford to give everyone a raise,” McDaniel said. “I, myself, have not taken a raise for the last couple of years because of the financial situation.”
    The district is receiving nearly $300,000 less from the state for next year. Of that amount, $93,000 is a fine levied on the school district by the state for its failure to join a consolidation group, per state law. The district has been in discussion with SAD 29 to join RSU 29, which would consolidate central offices and create one school board between the two districts. SAD 70 will continue to be fined, in increasing amounts, for each year that it does not comply with the school consolidation law.
    Two teaching positions are among the many cuts proposed in next year’s budget. The district has four teachers at the top of the pay scale who are retiring at the end of the school year.
    Bev Ivey (second grade), Ruth Stewart (a math teacher), Rod Swallow (a high school teacher) and Avon Stewart (a middle school English teacher) are all retiring at the end of the year. Only two of those four positions will be filled, according to McDaniel.
    Reductions in the Special Education department are planned, due to reduction in class sizes.
    McDaniel said the district froze its spending back in February, in anticipation of the reduced state aid. McDaniel said he was uncertain how much of this year’s budget would be unspent, but did expect to carry forward at least $200,000 to help reduce the amount raised by the local share and $40,000 to be placed into the contingency fund.
    “We wanted to present a budget that did not feature any increase to the towns,” McDaniel said. “We felt this budget would be the best thing to do, while still trying to maintain our programs.
NECAP testing
    The board also heard a 50-minute presentation from Mill Pond Elementary Principal Loreen Wiley on the district’s results on the New England Common Assessment Program (NECAP) tests. The tests were administered to students in grades 3-8 in the fall of 2009. The tests were based on each student’s level at the end of the previous year, meaning the third-graders were tested on their knowledge accumulated in the second grade.
    “This is one piece of data,” Wiley said. “It’s a snapshot of one student’s performance on one given day. But it is a very important piece of data. The students did very well.”
    The tests revealed the SAD 70 met or exceeded standards in all grade levels, with only a few exceptions. Results from the tests revealed mathematics for fourth-graders was the biggest area of concern, with 48 percent of those tested below proficiency levels.
    To correct the problem, Wiley said the district was looking at changing its curriculum so that third graders are introduced with more advanced math practices so that by the time they reach the fourth grade they will have more exposure to advanced math — including algebra and geometry.
    “There is a huge jump developmentally at that age,” Wiley said.
    In other agenda items, the board:
    • Listened to a 25-minute presentation from David Harbison on the possibility of applying for a federal grant that would allow the district to install a wood chip boiler. The district’s grant application was turned down in January, but a second round of grant proposals is expected in the near future. No action was taken on the matter.
    • Approved a seventh-grade trip to Camp Kieve the week of May 3-7.
    • Approved Trevor Parent as varsity softball coach.
    The next regular meeting of the SAD 70 school board is Monday, May 10 at 7 p.m. in the central office building.