After two lengthy meetings, the Edgecomb School Committee recommended the $4,539,384 education budget for the upcoming fiscal year at its meeting at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 2.
The committee’s vote comes after the original discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 25 lasted nearly three and a half hours; the discussion paused until the committee reconvened March 2.
Despite the vote to recommend the budget, which is an increase of $380,731 or 9.2%, school committee members voiced their frustration. It’s not aimed at the budget itself, but at the whole process of funding education, committee Chair Heather Sinclair said.
Taxpayers will contribute a total of $3,503,673, a $520,250 or 17.4% increase from the previous year, from last year.
“The local property taxes and the local budget and the school become the meeting place for communities to have to argue over values versus what they’re physically able to pay,” Sinclair said.
The committee also faces the obstacle of Edgecomb being more two years behind on its audits, the most recent one to work with being from 2023. Sinclair said because of the delayed audits, the decision-making process is limited in regard to what can be set aside for funds, what can be set aside from reserve accounts, and what they have available to use to offset taxes.
Despite this, Sinclair said this year’s budget conversation is the best she has had in her nine years on the committee.
The budget includes an anticipated increase in special education, a proposed lease agreement with First Student for a bus, and funding to hire a full-time kitchen faculty member.
The $927,221 special education budget is up $79,830 or 9.4% over last year. Sinclair said that the rise is to ensure that Edgecomb has adequate services for special education students. The final figure is less than one proposed in an earlier draft, as the committee decided to remove the possibility of an individualized education program coordinator joining the special education team.
Three major decisions regarding facilities and maintenance were made during the two meetings. The project to replace the exterior doors of Edgecomb Eddy School will remain in the budget for $47,000, which is a $26,000 or 123.8% increase. The first phase of a project to remove carpeting will be deferred to a later year. The pothole in the driveway that Sinclair said “could swallow a Volkswagen,” will be a problem faced by a separate warrant article where the committee will be looking to raise funds outside of the education budget.
Edgecomb’s school buses are five years into what usually is a 10-year lifecycle for New England school buses, Sinclair said. To avoid having to purchase a brand new bus two years in a row, the committee agreed to ask the administration to look into leasing one bus from First Student. The potential lease cost of $35,000 is included in the budget.
“We want to have all our options open so we can see what’s going to work best,” Sinclair said.
Elsewhere, $68,808 has been put aside for other expenditures, which is an increase of $33,808 or 96.6%. The rise is in anticipation of the hiring a full-time kitchen staff member at Edgecomb Eddy.
“We felt like the nutritional options, the quality options and the programming options that would be available with that position were worth the cost,” Sinclair said.
In other areas of the education budget, the regular instruction budget totals $2,456,311, an increase of $221,664 or 9.9%; the other instruction budget totals $4,000, an increase of $549 or 15.9%; the student and staff support budget totals $118,959, a decrease of $3,218 or 2.6%; the system administration budget totals $183,402, an increase of $27,585 or 17.7%; the school administration budget totals $221,886, a decrease of $5,841 or 2.6%; the transportation and buses budget totals $187,317, a decrease of $3,350 or 1.8%; and the facilities maintenance budget totals $371,480, an increase of $29,704 or 8.7%.
The Edgecomb Select Board and Edgecomb Budget Committee will consider the budget during a meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 9 at the Edgecomb town hall.
Voters will have the final say on the education budget at Edgecomb’s annual town meeting at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 18 in the town hall.
