The proposed education budget for Bremen high school students could result in up to a $72,340 or 27.9 percent increase for local taxpayers for the 2014-2015 school year.
Though Central Lincoln County School System AOS 93 officials are still waiting for official figures from the state, the required local appropriation is estimated at $331,639, up over $259,299 for the current year.
The Bremen School Board and the Bremen Budget Committee approved the budget in back-to-back meetings Jan. 21.
Overall, the proposed expenses for secondary education in the 2014-2015 school year are $471,039, up $88,895 or 23.26 percent.
The increases come in the categories of regular instruction, up $54,170, or 17.46 percent, at $364,445; special education instruction, up $32,398, or 12.8 percent at $57,62; and career and technical education instruction up $4187 or 102 percent at $8291.
According to AOS 93 Superintendent Steve Bailey, the proposed increase to regular instruction comes as a result from an anticipated increase in the number of high school students in Bremen in the coming year by three (seven seniors expected to graduate, and 10 incoming freshmen all likely going to Lincoln Academy) and by a budgeted 4 percent increase to the tuition rate.
Though the yearly tuition increase had been lower in recent years, historically increases were closer to 4 percent and were 3.7 percent for the current school year, Bailey said.
“We felt 4 percent was more accurate to predict the increase,” he said.
The regular instruction category also includes contingency funds for one student to attend public school and two students to attend private school, Bailey said. The students could be home-schooled students that choose to attend one of the schools, or new students that move to Bremen, he said.
The proposed increase to career and technical education is also a contingency for one student to attend Mid-Coast School of Technology in Rockland.
The AOS has seen an increase in use of CTE programs in general, and the students do not sign up for the programs until late spring, Bailey said.
“We just want to make sure money is available there should a student avail himself of that program,” he said.
The proposed increase to special education instruction is the result of increased student utilization of the program at Lincoln Academy, despite a new cost sharing method that gives a better rate to Bremen, Bailey said.
The new method, which splits costs among towns based on the number of students that use the program, is more equitable, Bailey said, but Bremen is also expected to see an increase in utilization from one student this year to five next year, according to budget documents.
Costs for each student are relatively standard, but significant needs for an individual student could still result in additional costs to a sending town, Bailey said.
The other three expense categories in the secondary education budget (student and staff support, system administration, and transportation and buses) all went down a total of $1860.
Bremen’s budget for K-8 education will be released with the Great Salt Bay Community School budget, Bailey said.
“We’ll be proposing something, bringing something to the board, probably at the March meeting,” he said.