FORT KENT, Maine – Officials in three Aroostook County school districts are making additional cuts after voters rejected their budgets.
Caribou-based RSU 39 voters rejected their school budget earlier this month, and the school board has since recommended a budget with a $60,000 reduction. The district will hold a public budget meeting on July 1 and, if successful, it will go to referendum again on July 8.
The new budget would result in a 0.43 increase to the mill rate instead of the original budget’s 0.54 mill increase.
The other two districts are based in the St. John Valley region: the Madawaska School Department and MSAD 27, which is made up of Fort Kent, Wallagrass, New Canada, St. Francis and St. John.
Voters in at least six other districts throughout Maine also rejected their school budgets this year, partly reflecting the general sense of frustration that many Americans now have over rising costs and other local, state and national issues, according to the Portland Press Herald. At least five Maine school districts rejected their first budget proposals last year.
The Madawaska School Department, during a June 16 board meeting, voted to hold a July 2 budget workshop to determine the next steps. Board members during the meeting discussed potential factors that may have contributed to the budget’s failure at the polls.
Madawaska’s $10 million proposed school budget had a $5.05 million locally funded portion, representing a $236,000 — or 0.8 percent — increase over the previous year’s budget. In order to avoid an even higher increase, Superintendent Ben Sirois said four-and-a-half staffing positions needed to be cut.
Sirois said at the meeting that the budget’s failure at the polls is not a reflection of the budget itself, but of current attitudes surrounding economic conditions.
“I think this failure is more a reflection of people being fed up right now with a lot of things going on in society and the cost of everything,” he said. “And this is the only thing people can control locally.”
The Madawaska board voted to hold a budget workshop on Wednesday, July 2 at 5 p.m. in order to determine the next steps.
The board also discussed the impact of social media on elections, which tends to draw negative comments and can sometimes result in the spreading of misinformation.
School board member Jean Thomas, who is also chair of the Madawaska Finance Committee, mentioned a comment on Facebook from someone who said they thought the budget would increase the mill rate by 7.
The tax increase from the rejected Madawaska school budget would have been less than one mill.
RSU 39 officials also cited misleading information spread on social media about the school budget and its actual costs to taxpayers. Residents in the region spread a figure of over $650,000 as the real cost of the budget; however the actual costs will be split, as RSU 39 operates on a fiscal year, ending on June 30, and the city operates on a calendar year budget.
In MSAD 27 towns, where the school budget was shot down for the first time in about 10 years, school officials will hold a public hearing for a new, reduced budget on July 23.
The original budget presented to voters during the June election included an overall $429,404 — or 6.4 percent — increase. However, each town’s individual portion varies depending on factors such as population size and valuation.
The two communities with the largest increases, Fort Kent and Wallagrass, each issued advisory resolutions opposing the budget on May 30. Town officials in their resolutions cited concerns about rising costs from aging residents who rely on fixed incomes.
Fort Kent’s portion of the budget would have increased by 8.2 percent, or from $3.8 million to $4.1 million. Wallagrass’ portion would have gone up by 9.4 percent, or from $648,247 to $709,235.
Sirois, who is also the MSAD 27 Superintendent, said during a June 23 district board meeting that the administrative team met shortly after the budget failure to agree on a follow-up plan. He said officials have worked out alternative budgets in case of a failure.
“This isn’t easy work,” he told officials and teachers in attendance, “because you’re looking at trimming things that you said you needed, or at the very best you wanted in order to operate your schools.”
He said that recent resignations will help the district make cuts without affecting anyone’s employment. Two ed techs recently resigned, as well as Family Literacy Early Childhood Educator Melanie Poirier. In order to present a smaller budget, Sirois said these positions will not be replaced.
He also said that some teachers turned down software upgrades for the classes in order to help trim the budget.
MSAD 27 Finance Director Lucie Tabor presented eight potential budget options, with four including the school’s late bus services and the other four eliminating this. The late bus service is worth $10,510. She said the administration will eliminate another position, but did not say what this position would be because they may not have been notified yet.
The board ultimately decided to go with the seventh option, which includes the aforementioned cuts, keeps the district’s kindergarten teacher, keeps the late bus and charges student athletes $25 per season, with a $50 cap per year.
Sirois said the sports fee would bring revenue to the district while not requiring taxpayers to fund athletics, as not every child participates in school sports.
This option would be nearly flat for most communities. Fort Kent and Wallagrass would have significantly lower increases. Fort Kent’s increase would be $5,082 instead of $312,615 and Wallagrass’ increase would be $7,151 instead of $60,961.
Tabor said these slight increases would be due to evaluations at the town level. The other three member communities, St. Francis, St. John, and New Canada, would all see decreases under this option.
Overall, this includes a $417,360 reduction over the last budget, with a roughly $19,000 revenue increase. The total budget would be $16 million.
If the MSAD 27 budget passes during the hearing on July 23, it will go to referendum again on Aug. 19.
