
AOS 93 Director of Special Services Kelly Stokes speaks to attendees of the central office budget meeting in the Nobleboro Central School gymnasium on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Stokes described the assistant special education director role and how some of the role’s responsibilities would fall to school principals if the position were eliminated. (Piper Pavelich photo)
Despite a proposal from the AOS 93 Board to eliminate the central office’s assistant special education position, voters brought back funding for the position and passed the central office budget during meeting the evening of Wednesday, Jan. 22.
Voters approved a budget of $1,188,473.87, a decrease of $176,851.62 or 12.95% from last year.
The board presented voters with a fiscal year 2026 budget of $1,094,247.32, a decrease of $271,078.17 or 19.85% from last year.
The board’s $1 million budget suggestion came after voters rejected its first proposal of $1.2 million during a public vote on Dec. 18, 2024.
The difference between the proposed and approved budgets was achieved by voters, who restored funding for the central office’s assistant special education director, a position the AOS 93 Board decided to cut to create a budget decrease taxpayers would be happy with.
With the budget approved, Bristol will contribute $331,584.21, an increase of $85,543.93 or 34.77%. Nobleboro’s share totals $287,848.37, an increase of $94,185.18 or 48.63%. Jefferson will contribute $359,453.92, an increase of $47,832.24 or 15.35%. South Bristol’s share is $209,587.37, an increase of $134,762.95 or 180.11%.
The Jan. 22 public vote was moving at a smooth pace and was almost complete when community member Ann Sperry said she wanted the crowd to reconsider the special education budget, which, at that point, had already been approved at a total of $235,773.14. Specifically, Sperry requested funding be reinstated for the assistant special education director.
“We need that position in our district,” she said. “I know what goes on in that office and I know how desperately the position is needed … Asking one person to do it all without support is too much.”
The AOS 93 board ultimately decided to get rid of the assistant special education director position after voters turned down an initial budget proposal of $1,219,774.85 on Dec. 18, 2024, a decrease of $145,550.65 or 10.66% from last year. The board also decreased superintendent health insurance and salaries within the AOS 93 business office, creating a total cut of $125,527.53 from the budget proposed in December 2024.
AOS 93 Director of Special Services Kelly Stokes noted that the assistant special education director position is crucial. She said every school in the district has differing needs each year, with some schools needing more assistance than others.
“Things change … Having a team of two administrators in the central office to support schools in need, with all the staffing issues there are in education right now, is really important,” said Stokes.
Some voters in attendance weren’t sure about putting funds toward the position again, with a few pointing out AOS 93 Board members Wayne Parlin and Matt Benner voted against reconsidering the special education budget. A few suggested decreasing expenditures elsewhere in the budget to create funding for the assistant special education director position.

Voters raise their hands in favor of amending the special education portion of the AOS 93 central office budget during a meeting in the Nobleboro Central School gym on Wednesday, Jan. 22. Residents from Bristol, Jefferson, Nobleboro, and South Bristol changed the total budget to $1,188,473.87, a $94,226.55 increase from the amount proposed, to reinstate funding for the assistant special education director position. (Piper Pavelich photo)
“I respect the work being done in the superintendent’s office, and I would recommend that, that one town that has a need for another special ed teacher, perhaps that person we’re eliminating can go work at that school … It looks like she would probably end up over there anyway,” said Richard Powell, of Nobleboro.
Angela White, who previously served on the Nobleboro School Committee, said although increases in town contributions to the AOS 93 budget are hard to deal with, central office services are essential to the well-being of students in the district.
“When one school needs a little bit more help than the other three, it’s there, and that changes every year … It’s all of our schools, it’s all of our kids,” White said. “We need to stop looking at it as ‘my school, my tax bill.’ We’re a community. We are AOS 93. Maybe we should act like it.”
After roughly 30 minutes of back-and-forth conversations, community members decided to restore funding for the assistant special education director with a vote of 51-37, changing the special education budget to $329,999.69, an increase of $15,789.95 or 5.03% from last year.
Voters also approved a student and staff support budget totaling $117,435.79, a decrease of $116,296.71 or 49.75%, and a system administration budget of $741,038.39, a decrease of $76,344.86 or 9.34% from last year.
AOS 93 Superintendent Todd Sanders and AOS 93 Business Manager Peter Nielsen said the conversations had during the Jan. 22 meeting were tough, but each community member has a valid opinion that should be heard.
“It’s hard to see people upset … But when you’re dealing with the tight budget that we have, to get to the number you asked to get to, it means a position,” Sanders said. “We spent hours and hours analyzing.”
“This meeting illustrates the importance of everybody participating in the process,” Nielsen said. “It just shows that more people that speak up, the more the issues get dealt with.”
The next meeting of the AOS 93 Board is at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 11 at the central office, at 767 Main St. in Damariscotta.

From left: AOS 93 Board members Wayne Parlin and Matt Benner, Business Manager Peter Nielsen, and Superintendent Todd Sanders listen to a question during the budget meeting for the central office on Wednesday, Jan. 22 in the Nobleboro Central School gymnasium. (Piper Pavelich photo)