Dear Editor

At an open town meeting on April 29, the Wiscasset School Committee (divided 3 for, 2 against) asked the voters to approve a budget for the next school year of $11,191,742, an increase of $447,623. That budget was approved by a vote of 69 for and 21 against.

Enrollment continues to decrease, now at 348 students, as reported to the Department of Education in October 2025. Academic performance in Maine is poor. Wiscasset Middle High performance is worse than the state averages; in English Language Arts 44% of the students fail to meet expectations, in Math 69% fail to meet expectations and in Science 75% fail to meet expectations. Wiscasset Elementary School is slightly better than the state averages. (Source: Maine Department of Education website https://www.maine.gov/doe/dashboard). Academic performance is unacceptable.

With an enrollment of 348 students, the state indicates that to achieve a student-to-teacher ratio of 16 to 1, Wiscasset School District would need ~22 teachers to meet expectations in Essential Programs and Services. The district has reported 38 teachers providing a student to teacher ratio of ~9-to-1. This would indicate that Wiscasset has more teachers than are needed and the additional teachers have not improved academic performance. 

The average cost per student per year in Maine is $21,717. In Wiscasset the average cost per student is more than $31,000 in the current year. With the proposed budget this would increase to more than $32,000. The cost per student in Wiscasset is excessive.

The Richmond School District is comparable to the Wiscasset School District. The Richmond School District has a Middle/High School and an Elementary School with 63 more students than Wiscasset and operates with an annual budget approximately $2 million less.

Although the budget was approved at the town meeting it must next be approved by the voters in a validation referendum on June 9. The Budget Validation Ballot will simply ask for a Yes or No vote without any mention of the budget amount. A budget in excess of $10,000,000 for Wiscasset should be rejected by the voters.

Vote No.

Edward J. Polewarczyk 

Wiscasset