An influx of special education students, support staff and other unanticipated costs have caused a $500,000 gap in the Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 budget, finance committee members said. 

However, committee members have identified about $200,000 of “wiggle room” that will help buffer its impact.

Those unanticipated costs have led to a budget freeze, which will not affect salaries or other budgeted items, such as planned field trips or classroom materials, administrative staff said.

“We are really cautious of what gets approved,” Assistant Superintendent Patricia Watts said. She said they want to be cognizant of any changes that could affect the students, but may be looking at postponing teacher conferences and making other temporary adjustments to make up the shortfall.

Finance committee chairman Jerry Nault said more than half of the shortfall came as a result of an unanticipated number of special education students and support staff. He said a “punchlist” of items had added to school district's costs over time and the school district's staff started to become concerned as the costs inched closer to $500,000. 

“It's not a king's ransom,” Nault said. “However, we are going to monitor it to make sure it doesn't grow out of our reach.”

Following dialogues between committee members and administrative staff, interim Superintendent Alan Hawkins initiated a budget freeze. This initially meant no spending on items in the budget, save for salaries and benefits. 

After further deliberation, Hawkins made some adjustments to allow for previously planned field trips and for teachers to purchase budgeted supplies. 

Hawkins said they are doing a monthly review of the budget to keep tabs on how money is being spent.

Nault said most of the reserve “carry-over” funds are already committed in the budget, which does not help their problem in filling the gap. He said future efforts should be put into building carry-over funds that would help buffer any such unanticipated costs. 

Certain factors (such as students entering and leaving the school district) affect these costs to a certain extent. Nault recommended future contingency funds be allocated to certain areas.

Westport Island representative Richard DeVries mentioned several other recommendations from the finance committee. He said board members could make some sacrifices, such as not collecting mileage reimbursement and returning their stipends. 

DeVries also suggested the school district charge outside entities for holding events at the various schools and that parents help raise funds to support certain activities.

Palermo board member Don Barrett said he liked some of the suggestions, but did not think the school district should charge outside entities for events. The schools are the hub of communities, he said. Barrett also said he did not think the school district would make very much money in return.

DeVries also opened up a conversation among board members regarding student health, the food students eat and how these factors add up to performance in school. The percentages of special education students in the RSU schools, “continues to grow and grow and grow,” he said. He asked board members for other recommendations to mitigate this kind of continuing impact.

A number of board members weighed in on the topic of food and student health. 

Barrett said, “The trouble is the U.S. Department of Agriculture won't let us serve healthy food in a school because some of our large agribusinesses have made sure that the U.S. Department of Agriculture sends us the worst garbage that you could possibly think of. 

“If you're going to send something home to parents, the first thing we should do is say, 'we are going to serve healthy food in our school,' which some schools have done.”

Having done some research on his own, Barrett said there is a connection between unhealthy food and behavioral problems in school children. 

In a related but separate issue, Wiscasset Primary and Middle schools received grants worth $1,000 each from the “5-2-1-0 Let's Go” program (www.letsgo.org) at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital at Maine Medical Center. The grants, awarded to participating schools, help fund healthy environments through diet and exercise. 

The numbers represent: five fruits and vegetables, a limit of two hours recreational television/computer time, one hour or more of physical activity and zero sugary beverages. 

Wiscasset Primary School has had a successful farm to school program for some time now. Through a partnership with Morris Farm located next door, students learn to grow their own food and appreciate the flavors of natural food from the ground, from seed to plate, every year. 

At the Wiscasset Middle School, students participated in a 5-2-1-0 fitness program November 7.