SAD 1 budget back from the drawing board
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — After voters rejected a major tax hike, the School Administrative District 1 has returned and proposed a smaller increase, while setting a goal of offering all-day kindergarten in the coming years.
The MSAD 1 board of directors spent more than an hour in a special meeting discussing possibilities for savings in the $25.14 million 2016-17 budget that was voted down June 16 and would have raised property tax assessments by 9 percent to help pay for all-day kindergarten.
The board ended up adopting a number of ideas put forward by Superintendent Brian Carpenter that removed $370,351 from the budget and would bring an annual property tax assessment increase of 4.8 percent for MSAD 1’s budget year, or 2.4 percent over two years in municipal taxes.
The amended budget’s savings come from the removal of three kindergarten teaching positions that were part of the all-day kindergarten proposal, the delay of maintenance on the Mapleton Elementary boiler and on the high school baseball field, and a number of smaller reductions, including limiting the hockey team to one-hour practices and the withdrawal of $2,000 for the Aroostook Youth Basketball League.
The overall budget would spend $24.8 million, an increase of 2.7 percent over last year, with $8.8 million coming from the district’s communities. More than 75 percent of the total budget is devoted to pay and benefits for staff.
Over the last four years, the local share of property taxes has increased by 5.7 percent, or an average of 1.4 percent, noted SAD 1 Assistant Superintendent Clinton Deschene, who reconfigured the budget following the special board meeting.
The meeting drew about 50 people and sparked a conversation on spending priorities for SAD 1, a community debate likely to continue beyond this budget.
“Nothing is sacred,” said Superintendent Carpenter, after SAD 1 board chair Lucy Richards asked if school sports might be an area to find savings and joked that the suggestion might get her house egged.
The board, as well as community members, struggled especially with how to proceed with all-day kindergarten, a proposal that would see SAD 1 join most other districts in the state in offering a full-day kindergarten program, in light of the community’s response to the budget.
“I think what happened with the vote this last time was the community, in Presque Isle, our mill rate is approaching 27.5, one of the highest in the state,” Mike Chasse, a 2000 Presque Isle High School graduate and city councillor, said in public comments at the meeting. “I think the community has said ‘Enough is enough, we can’t afford any more.’”
“This isn’t about all-day K,” Chasse said. “It’s about having the best school district we can have, but still being affordable so we don’t lose people. I think a lot of people could get behind all-day K and see the merits of it.”
The board ended up voting to set a goal to phase in all-day kindergarten over several years, although the details of that would still have to be worked out.
SAD 1 teachers were preparing for all-day kindergarten, and also have concerns about the impacts of education mandates that the board will also have to confront in the coming years, said Pine Street Elementary kindergarten teacher Tammy Willey.
Willey said she was looking forward to all-day kindergarten, with the extra time having the potential to offer kids the best of kindergarten’s experiences and balance what she described as an overemphasis on standardized testing, even in kindergarten.
“No longer is kindergarten learning how to write your name, color, or sing the alphabet and play,” Willey said. “With Common Core and [Maine Cohort for Customized Learning] standards, kindergarten students are being asked to master skills that are not developmentally appropriate and must complete multiple assessments. Right now, in my half-day sessions, my students take eight six- to 11-page assessments every year. They take six assessments on a laptop.”
“One of my students took the whole two-and-half hours to complete the test. She was very frustrated, she kept looking at me, saying, ‘Why am I not smart enough?’ I said ‘It’s not because you’re not smart enough, they’re making it harder,’’ Wiley told the board.
“I hear talk of new iPads and laptops for students. All I want is time with students — more time to teach social skills, cooperation and problem solving.”
The SAD 1 board meets again for a special meeting Thursday, June 30 at 5:30 p.m. at the Presque Isle Middle School to adopt a revised budget, with a budget meeting following on July 19 and a district validation referendum on July 21.
