Voters in the school district serving Searsport and Stockton Springs will now have to consider a fourth budget proposal after they narrowly rejected a $12.29 million spending plan Tuesday, which would have been up 2 percent from last year.
The district is one of at least six in Maine that have now rejected at least two proposed school budgets, in a summer that has been characterized by frustration over growing local taxes. Another midcoast district, in the town of Jefferson, also shot down a school budget proposal Tuesday.
In RSU 20, which includes Searsport elementary, middle and high schools, voters rejected the budget Tuesday by just 15 votes, 174 to 189, according to an election worker in Searsport who declined to give her name. While voters in Searsport narrowly approved of the budget — with five more yes than no votes — Stockton Springs opposed it 107-84.
Superintendent Laura Miller could not be reached for comment, but this means the district will likely now have to cut more spending before sending a fourth budget to the member towns. Until a new budget is approved, the district will continue to work off of last year’s.
The district originally proposed a new 2025-2026 budget of $12.5 million in June. After that was rejected, it made a second $12.45 million proposal, which voters also nixed, followed by the third rejected Tuesday.
The proposed budgets have included increased salaries for teachers, administrators and support staff, along with funding for health benefits and technology upgrades. Those increases would be offset by cuts to extracurricular and support programs, including the elimination of the elementary afterschool program, library aides and reductions to middle school guidance and social work.
Last year, the district had approved a $12 million budget for the 2024-2025 school year, which was up 7.56 percent from the previous year.
