Members of the Sheepscot Valley school district Board of Directors approved an increase of $100,000 to the education budget during their May 9 meeting in Windsor, after about three hours of intense discussion.

This weighted majority vote comes just weeks before a district budget meeting early next month, where residents will vote on the 11 cost centers in the education budget.

Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 towns (Alna, Chelsea, Somerville, Palermo, Windsor, Whitefield, Wiscasset and Westport Island) will see that the budget has increased to $26,511,204 for fiscal year 2014.

This means local taxpayers will pay $1,100,048 or 7.65 percent more than the current year, due in part to a decision by the board and encouragement from members of the public at the meeting, as well as to the increased financial burden shifted from the state to the local level.

The board was not in full agreement over the $100,000 increase to a budget they fear may not gain voter approval anyway. But the vote illustrated a strong interest among board members and members of the public in attendance to provide a budget that reflects more of what students need.

Before the increase was added into the proposed budget, residents were looking at a 6.96 percent increase in local share and a 2.51 percent increase in the total budget over the current fiscal year (July 1,2012- June 30, 2013).

Incoming superintendent Howard Tuttle summarized the fiscal year 2014 budget proposal. He said the goal of the budget was to maintain reasonable class sizes (25 pupils maximum), use resources creatively (to create efficiencies and reduce costs), maintain as many programs as possible and move closer toward equity across the school district.

The following are some of the changes in the proposed budget that were not presented at the April 25 board meeting: reductions in central office staff; the elimination of one technical integrator at the high school, but keeping two others on staff to assist other schools; the elimination of sports with low participation, establish a “pay to play” system and to find efficiencies in athletics across the school district (a reduction in the athletic budget by $89,000).

“This process has been fairly challenging because of the tax shift to communities,” Tuttle said, adding the Finance Committee and school district administration needed to find a way to reduce the budget by almost $2 million.

Tuttle said the school district administration does not have specific plans, but suggestions are to reduce transportation and establish a fee system. Board chairman Hilary Holm said they have also explored fundraising alternatives.  

“I have a little bit of an issue when we say we are going to cut art, foreign language and music,” Whitefield board member Joan Morin said. She added that while sports are important as well, she wanted to know what everyone would be willing to do to support the other school programs.

Windsor Elementary School art teacher Genevieve Keller stressed the importance of art and other programs at the school, her comments eliciting strong applause. “I don't see how you can do quality programming teaching students once a week,” she said. “We were individual towns before this RSU that … over time, invested in things we believed in … this RSU is pulling us down to the lowest common denominator.”

“Nobody wants to see these cuts, folks,” Holm said. “But do you want to see your local costs go up by more than a million dollars that's already proposed to go up by?” Several people shouted “yes.”

Other board members said they support the art and music programs, as well as foreign language and sports. “We need to make everything equal,” Chelsea board member Diana McKenzie said. A straw poll of board members and those in the audience showed approximately 32 people in favor of raising the budget.

“This is hard for me,” Westport Island board member Sandra Crehore, expressing her concern about the increased cost to local taxpayers. She said she supports the arts and other programs, but like many of her neighbors, is living on a fixed income and an increase would be a hardship for many in the community. Other board members made similar comments.

When asked if the teachers' union had been approached to negotiate salary raises, Holm said yes and that there were no reductions to salaries. However, she later elaborated on their meeting with union representatives.

Holm said the parties did agree on a “spousal clause” in employee health insurance, however. She said they agreed that RSU spouses would not be enrolled in insurance plans.

The reduction in health insurance coverage equals about $75,000 in budget savings. So, there is some “give back” from the teachers, Holm said, and the agreements they have made with the teachers' union ensures that the RSU retains its biggest resource.

Board members do not know what the cost allocation of this budget will be for each town yet. They will be working on this over the next couple of weeks. Board members will sign the warrant during a special meeting on May 23, at which time they will also agree on an adult education budget.

The district budget meeting will be held at the Whitefield Elementary School on June 8. Residents who attend this meeting will be able to vote on the 11 cost centers within the budget, effectively increasing or decreasing the bottom line. Residents will then cast one vote for the final budget during the regional budget validation referendum in their respective towns on June 28.

The “numerology” behind this upcoming education budget shows how state funds have shifted costs to RSU 12 and other local school districts. In RSU 12, the number of students slated for the upcoming school year has decreased by about 22 students (1.2 percent) from the current year, according to information shared by Finance Committee chairman Jerry Nault.

Even with this decline, he said the state is increasing Essential Programs and Services (EPS) money, but is expecting local taxpayers to pay a larger share (state equals 47.9 percent, local equals 52.1 percent). The EPS funds are based upon the Department of Education's annual ED 279 report, “state calculation for funding public education.”

Part of the EPS calculation shifts $65,000 in teacher retirement costs from the state to district towns. Nault said local taxpayers in RSU 12 are being asked to pay $265,000 more in the EPS share.