WOODLAND, Maine — The town of Woodland held a town meeting on June 9 to vote on whether or not to approve Woodland school’s budget for the ensuing year.
All 17 articles passed last week including the authorization to expend funds for Regular Instruction in the amount of $985,672, Special Education at $378,001, other instruction at $17,616, Student Staff and Support at $78,938, System Administration at $81,487, School Administration at $82,639, Transportation and Busses at $152,270, Facilities Maintenance at $167,695, and all other expenditures at $6,000.
Residents voted and passed the sum the municipality will appropriate for the total cost of funding public education from kindergarten to grade 12 at a recommended amount of $1,670,782, and to see what sum the municipality will raise as its contribution to the total cost of funding at a recommended amount of $492,688.
The motion to raise and appropriate $113,894 in additional local funds, which exceeds the State’s Essential Programs and Services allocation model to fund the budget, was carried as recommended by the school committee.
The recommended amount of $1,950,318 was approved to allow the district to authorize the school committee to expend the fiscal year beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2016. The funds include the school administrative unit’s contribution to the total cost of funding public education from kindergarten to grade 12, non-state funded school construction projects, additional local funds, unexpended balances, tuition receipts, state subsidy and other receipts for the support of schools.
The last article of the evening gave the Woodland School Committee the authorization to negotiate a tuition contract for a term of five years for school privileges for resident students of Woodland in grades 9-12. Negotiations for an exclusive contract with the town of Washburn have been going on over the past several months and Union 122 landed a deal in early May.
