PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — At last Wednesday night’s district-wide budget meeting, residents gave their initial approval of SAD 1’s $24,008,863 budget for 2014-15. Step two of the budget process is a budget validation referendum that will be held June 10 in Presque Isle, Mapleton, Chapman, Castle Hill and Westfield.
Superintendent Gehrig Johnson told residents gathered for the May 14 meeting in the Presque Isle High School cafeteria that while the overall budget is up by 3.4 percent, total local taxes would decrease by $94,762 if the proposal were to pass.
“For the first time in five years, there’s an increase in state aid of $218,756. For the last several years we’ve seen large decreases in state aid which has complicated our budget situation immensely,” he said. “The reason for that increase is that our valuation in our five communities is down 2.25 mils, and we’ve seen an increase in enrollment of nine students. Those two factors — combined — caused our increase in state aid.
“The two big increases in our budget are due to a large increase of 9.5 percent in medical insurance premiums driving up employee benefit costs by $491,715, as well as teacher retirement costs of $221,733 which local school units were forced to bear beginning last year,” said Johnson. “We’re also dealing with a number of what we call ‘unfunded mandates’ from the state. The Legislature keeps passing laws which we have to follow, but the funding doesn’t follow it and it drives up local costs … things like the design of new diploma standards, design and implementation of the new teacher-principal evaluation system, the Common Core standards implementation, and development of the Next Generation Science Standards.”
Johnson said that in light of a slightly improved overall financial situation and a small increase in enrollment, the district was able to maintain professional staff at nearly the same level as 2013-14 with a net reduction of two teaching positions through attrition.
“Over the past six years we have reduced full-time equivalent staff numbers by about 50 positions, including 23.5 teachers and four administrators,” he said. “This year, which I actually would describe as a ‘good year,’ we still eliminated positions — two teaching positions district-wide and three support personnel.”
After electing Michael MacPherson as moderator to preside over the district budget meeting (Article 1), residents approved the following items:
• (Article 2) $8,746,703 for Regular Instruction.
• (Article 3) $2,732,441 for Special Education.
• (Article 4) $1,533,905 for Career & Technical Education.
• (Article 5) $904,207 for Other Instruction.
• (Article 6) $1,915,344 for Student & Staff Support.
• (Article 7) $592,050 for System Administration.
• (Article 8) $1,206,510 for School Administration.
• (Article 9) $1,926,046 for Transportation and Buses.
• (Article 10) $2,961,636 for Facilities Maintenance.
• (Article 11) $951,300 for Debt Service and Other Commitments.
• (Article 12) $300,000 for All Other Expenditures including School Lunch.
• (Article 13) $6,393,937.50 in local tax dollars to receive all of the available state support for education.
• (Article 14) $891,870.15 for the annual payments on debt service previously approved by the legislative body for non-state funded school construction projects, non-state-funded portions of school construction projects and minor capital projects, in addition to the funds appropriated as the local share of the school administrative unit’s contribution to the total cost of funding public education from pre-kindergarten to grade 12.
• (Article 15) $907,640.35 in additional local funds, which exceeds the state’s Essential Programs and Services allocation model by $515,822.72. A written ballot was required for this article. It was approved 156-54.
• (Article 16) In addition to the amounts in Articles 1 through 15 above, shall Maine School Administrative District No. 1 raise and appropriate $150,000 for the purchase of approximately 34 acres of land (“Lois Conant Parcel”) adjacent to the existing school farm, which sum exceeds the state’s Essential Programs and Services allocation model by $150,000? A written ballot was required for this article. It was defeated 114-100.
• (Article 17) $23,770,142 for the board of school directors to expend for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2014 and ending June 30, 2015 from the school administrative unit’s contribution to the total cost of funding public education from pre-kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the Essential Programs and Services Funding Act, unexpended balances, tuition receipts, state subsidy, and other receipts for the support of schools.
• (Article 18) Appropriate $238,721 for Adult Education and raise $94,990 as the local share, with authorization to expend any additional, incidental, or miscellaneous receipts in and for the well being of the adult education program.
The budget validation referendum will be held Tuesday, June 10. Voters should contact their municipal offices for exact polling times and locations.
