STACYVILLE, Maine — Voters in the 12 communities that represent RSU 50 narrowly approved a $9,478,679 school budget for 2015-16 during a special referendum election Aug. 11.
The spending plan was approved 252 in favor and 172 opposed. It marked the second time voters in the district were asked to cast ballots on the budget. Back in July, a $9,510,396 spending plan failed at the polls, 221-191.
RSU 50 Interim Superintendent Mike Hammer said he was pleased that the budget as a whole passed, but was concerned there were four communities in which the budget did not receive a majority vote. The communities of Merrill, Moro Plantation, Sherman and Stacyville rejected the budget.
A breakdown by community is as follows: Crystal, 14 yes, 4 no; Dyer Brook, 26-7; Hersey, 4-0; Island Falls, 36-24; Merrill, 7-18; Moro Plantation, 0-2; Mount Chase, 14-12; Oakfield 54-7; Patten, 44-31; Sherman, 24-48; Smyrna, 17-6; and Stacyville, 12-13.
Hammer joined the school district as its interim superintendent in July. Since that time, he worked with the board to come up with a budget that would hopefully meet with the voters’ approval. The 2015-16 budget is $53,675 (0.57 percent) more than last year.
The district learned it received an additional $68,000 in revenue from the state once the Maine Legislature approved its budget. The RSU 50 board also made some revisions to its spending plan from the one that failed the first time around.
“We felt that the (proposed) curriculum coordinator position was a sticking point for a lot of people, so we eliminated that position,” Hammer explained.
Instead, the group decided it would be better to use that money to create an assistant principal/athletic director position as that person would have more direct contact with the students. Currently, the district has one high school principal, Jon Porter, to manage both Southern Aroostook Community School and Katahdin High School.
Hammer said Porter only agreed to serve as the high school principal for both schools for a couple of years to see if it would be feasible for one person to manage both sites.
“The teachers, administration and school board really liked the idea of having an assistant principal/AD,” Hammer said. “There were some though who felt we were adding to the top, but this is a position will help us down the road.”
A total of $44,461 was eliminated from the Regular Instruction account by cutting three full-time positions. There are presently 50 teachers that fall under this account with an average student-to-teacher ratio for pre-K to grade 5 of 15:1.
The transportation and facilities and maintenance were two cost centers that saw increases due to an additional bus lease and repairs to the roofs of Southern Aroostook Community and Katahdin Elementary schools.
The board will hold a special meeting on Monday, Aug. 17 to ratify the election results.
