Damariscotta voters will consider a 2015-2016 secondary education budget with a 29.46 percent increase during a special town meeting at 5 p.m., Wednesday, May 6.
The sharp increase in the budget includes a $135,000 tuition bill for a single special education student who will attend school out of state.
The budget totals $1,643,896, an increase of $374,092. The figure is even higher than the 23.29 percent hike in an earlier draft due to the $135,000 expense and will almost certainly lead to an increase in Damariscotta’s property tax rate for the fifth straight year.
The budget includes all expenses for Damariscotta students in grades nine through 12. Most attend Lincoln Academy in Newcastle.
The bulk of the 29.46 percent increase is the result of increases in L.A. tuition – the state determines what the private town academy can charge – and an increase of five students.
The $135,000 bill, however, accounts for 36.09 percent of the overall increase.
The Damariscotta Board of Selectmen briefly discussed the six-figure addition to the budget during the board’s meeting April 15.
“Is there no limit to the amount a town has to pay for a student going out of state to school?” Selectman Robin Mayer said.
“I know this is an exceptional case,” Mayer said. “There’s only one, but over time, if there’s more than one and we’re paying $135,000 for each student that goes out of state because we cannot, for whatever reason, accommodate them in the local area, that’s going to break the bank as far as the education budget, which then filters down to our property taxes.”
Mayer suggested that the selectmen ask their legislators to propose a bill that would place a cap on the amount a town has to pay for out-of-district placements.
Damariscotta School Committee Chairman Brent Hallowell attended the meeting.
“I pay taxes too,” Hallowell said. “It was quite a surprise to us.”
The school committee has limited options, however. “We’re handcuffed, essentially,” Hallowell said.
The town could have some relief in sight, according to Central Lincoln County School System Superintendent Steve Bailey.
The state generally reimburses the school system for 30 percent of special education expenses two years after the town spends the money. The state will sometimes increase the rate of reimbursement for “extraordinarily high expenditures,” Bailey said.
Bailey does not know yet how much of the $135,000 the state would reimburse and believes the town would still see a two-year delay.
Bailey said the $135,000 bill is “unusual.” He was not sure if the school system has ever paid as much for a single student. “Not in my time here,” he said. Bailey has been in his current position since July 2011.
The six-figure charge is not unprecedented, however. “I know of districts that are spending much more than that for students with some very specialized needs,” Bailey said.
A team of parents, teachers, the school system’s director of special services, and sometimes the student his or herself determines where special education students will attend school with input from educational and medical specialists, according to Bailey.
The team “makes a recommendation as to what the best possible program might be for the student and then locations are sought, and all I can tell you is, we’re seeking multiple options that meet the need of the student,” Bailey said.
Bailey’s office “has the authority to make that determination as to the expenditure of funds,” he said. “That said, it’s our legal obligation to provide education programs and services to the student, as with any student.”
The school system budgets $65,000 as a “baseline rate” for out-of-district placements within the state. Towns do not have the authority to review or appeal such placements.
Bailey said he would support a bill to change the state funding formula to help cover situations like the one in Damariscotta, depending on what the state can offer now.
“If it’s already included within the high-cost reimbursement model, perhaps it doesn’t need to be duplicated, and that’s what we’re trying to find out,” he said.
The special town meeting will convene at the town office at 5 p.m. A secret-ballot referendum to validate the special town meeting vote will coincide with the municipal election June 9.