WOODLAND, Maine — Residents here will vote on June 20 on a proposed Woodland school budget that increases the local share by about $24,000.
School officials have made about $144,000 in cuts to expenses in order to get the proposed budget to $1,933,732.
Woodland School Board Chairman Travis Prashaw and Union 122 Business Manager Chris Martin explained changes in the budget to the Woodland selectmen on May 16, indicating that they wanted to make “painless cuts” by removing commonly unused items.
“I don’t know what’s happening down the road, and we’re not counting on anything until we know what’s happening for sure,” said Prashaw, alluding to the New Sweden School Committee’s recent decision to close its school and send students to Woodland, depending on the results of an upcoming town vote.
While the closure could result in more students, and ultimately more money, for Woodland Consolidated School, there are a number of variables at play. New Sweden residents filed a petition against closure, so it may remain open during the 2017-18 year and, even if the school does close, parents may choose to homeschool their students or send them to Caribou instead. School officials estimated that about 50 students from New Sweden will need to go elsewhere next year.
Woodland School Board Chairman Travis Prashaw stopped by Woodland Selectmen’s May 16 meeting to present potential changes in the school budget so “there are no surprises when it goes to Town Meeting.” (Christopher Bouchard)
“This year you’ll notice that our state allocation is going down by $33,000, which is due to an RSU 39 tuition agreement,” Prashaw said. “And with a dozen kids registered for PreK, we’re also bringing on a new teacher, so that adds up to about $70,000.”
To find savings and where certain cuts could be made, Union 122 Business Manager Chris Martin said officials did a line by line comparison of the past four budgets. Among the savings found were a $25,000 reduction to tuition paid to other local education agencies, a $10,000 reduction to ed tech salaries, and a $30,406 cut for speech and occupational therapy services.
Despite the cuts, the 2017-18 budget, which was approved by the Woodland School Committee on April 27, still requires a $24,000 increase in the local share of education costs.
Martin said during the May 17 selectmen meeting that, after this year, the town could possibly add funds back to areas where cuts were made.
“It’s not that we’ll never add funds back to those lines, but it’s a good place to cut for the time being,” Martin said.
Prashaw said he was confident Woodland Consolidated school could stay in good shape for the foreseeable future.
“I feel that, looking down the road, we’re in a good position,” Prashaw said. “You’ll notice in the news that a lot of schools are weathering some storms and we feel we’re in good shape to continue on for a few years, as long as nothing drastic happens in Augusta.”
The school board also is considering capital repairs, such as fixing the lighting, a piece of the roof, and the siding beneath some windows, Prashaw said.
Tom Drew, chair of the Woodland Board of Selectmen, asked about the possibility of a new gymnasium.
“We’ll talk about that next year when we see how many kids we get in there,” Prashaw said. “The more the merrier; we like to see kids coming in. It’s a good problem to have. I’d also like to tell you guys you’re doing a good job of intriguing people to come to Woodland.
“We’re doing our part to make America great again,” Drew joked, later adding that, in regards to New Sweden, “nobody likes to see a community lose their school, but our arms are wide open.”
The selectmen did not need to take any action on the proposed budget. Prashaw and Martin just dropped in to give the selectmen an idea of what it would look like before it goes out to voters.
Residents will be able to decide whether to approve or reject the proposed budget at the meeting set for 7 p.m. on June 20 at the Woodland Consolidated School gymnasium. The town meeting is tentatively scheduled two days later, after which the new mill rate will be set.
Editor’s note: The original story reported this meeting would take place at 5:30 p.m. June 20, but the time of the meeting is actually 7 p.m. The location is the Woodland School.
