CARIBOU, Maine — RSU 39, the Caribou and Stockholm school district, is again working to avoid any major increases in their budget for the 2021-22 year, as many in the community are still struggling financially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, the school cut nearly $2 million in an effort to avoid major increases, resulting in a budget of $19,814,702.56, or a 0.45 percent increase over the previous year.
This year RSU 39 will receive approximately $1.5 million in ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds.School officials are also anticipating additional funding via the Biden Administration, and both RSU 39 superintendent Tim Doak and business manager Mark Bouchard say it will likely be a higher amount than the ESSER funding. At this point, it is unclear if the funding will be approved and what, if any, stipulations would be associated with the money.
Bouchard said on March 4 that the funding has not passed through the U.S. Senate yet, and that COVID-19 relief funds awarded to the school last year were restrictive both in what they could be spent on as well as when it needed to be spent. He said the school was notified about these funds in late July, and that they were given until Dec. 30 to spend the money.
Even if the additional funding from the Biden Administration does not arrive, Bouchard said the school would still work to avoid any major budget increases.
“In this environment we just don’t feel that the taxpayers could afford a significant increase,” he said.
Bouchard and Doak will work with the school board in the coming weeks, but they are still early in the process.
“We just have to move forward as best as we can,” Bouchard said. “We’ve spent a lot of COVID money, and it was all on items that we needed. If we hadn’t purchased a couple school buses, for example, we would not have been able to transport the students to school in accordance with CDC guidelines.”
Doak said his goal as of early March is to split the $1.5 million ESSER funds so it can be used both this year and next year.
“If I use it all in one year, it’s almost reckless,” he said. “So I can give two years with some reprieve.”
He said the funding could potentially cover major projects, such as repaving the Caribou High School parking lot, which he said is in desperate need of repair.
The Superintendent said he told Caribou City Manager Dennis Marker that their goal is to not create a reckless budget amid a pandemic.
“We’re looking to keep it as flat as we can, and I haven’t had one board member disagree,” he said. “It’sstill early on, but we have no intention of raising budgets when we’re receiving this much funding.”
And while officials are still early in the process, Doak said he and administrators will keep local taxpayers in mind while creating this year’s budget.
“I think RSU 39 has always been very cautious of the taxpayer,” he said. “We’re not a runaway train and we don’t want to be. We should be looking for ways to help each other if we can. This is just not a time to run havoc and recklessly build a school budget when there are people who have lost their jobs, or who are living paycheck to paycheck,” Doak said.
