For the first time in their shared history, on Tuesday, May 6 residents from Bremen, Damariscotta, and Newcastle will consider a single education budget to cover expenses for their 600-plus pre-K through grade 12 students.
When the three towns were a part of AOS 93, residents had to vote on three separate budgets: one for the central office, the costs of which were shared with Bristol, Jefferson, Nobleboro, and South Bristol; one for the Great Salt Bay Consolidated School District budget, which encompassed the costs of pre-K through eighth grade students; and each town’s respective secondary education budget, which dealt with expenses for students in grades 9-12.
Now, as the towns prepare to officially leave AOS 93 and form RSU 48 on July 1, the process has been streamlined to one budget that covers all the expenses of students in pre-K through 12th grade, RSU 48 Superintendent Lynsey Johnston said.
The budget totals $13,162,140, an increase from the total amount the three towns paid toward education of $698,694.95 or 5.61% from the 2024-2025 fiscal year. A 13.6% hike in health insurance costs drove the majority of the increase, as did a rise in both the number of students enrolled in a private secondary institution and the state-set tuition of those institutions.
Neither of the collective bargaining agreements with the support staff or teaching staff were up for renegotiation this year, as the existing agreements rolled into the RSU 48 formation, said Johnston, who is also the district’s business manager.
Both district administration and members of the Great Salt Bay School Committee had been anticipating an 8% increase in health insurance costs this year, which has been the practice for the past decade, Johnston said. The 13.6% hike came as a surprise, but Johnston said it’s similar to what other districts around the state are seeing.
The regular instruction budget totals $7,058,044, an increase of $576,713.99 or 8.9% from last year.
The cost of secondary education drives the majority of the increase in the budget. As RSU 48 does not have a public high school, students in grades nine through 12 can choose where they wish to attend.
The line for public secondary tuition, which covers students attending Medomak Valley High School in Waldoboro, Boothbay Region High School, Wiscasset Middle High School, and other public institutions, totals $156,250, an increase of $9,201 or 6.26%.
The private secondary tuition budget line, which accounts for students attending Lincoln Academy in Newcastle and well as North Yarmouth Academy, Erskine Academy, and others, totals $3,210,000, an increase of $284,926.50 or 9.74%. The jump can be attributed to both an increase in the number of students attending private secondary schools as well as an increase to the state-set maximum allowable tuition for these institutions, Johnston said.
The 2024-2025 maximum allowable tuition set by the state is $14,080.88 per student, an increase of $780.76 or 5.87% from the previous year. The 2025-2026 maximum allowable tuition will be set in January 2026.
The Maine Department of Education also raised the insured value factor, which is used to pay for building upkeep and critical maintenance, from being 6% of the maximum allowable tuition to 10%. Based on the 2024-2025 maximum allowable tuition, the insured value factor per student is $1,408.09, an increase of $610.08 or 76.45%.
Within the RSU 48 budget, the insured value factor line totals $319,410, an increase of $144,735 or 82.86%.
In addition, the school committee built in a $90,000 contingency line for grant-funded positions due to some uncertainty surrounding federal Title I funding, which is supplemental financial assistance provided to school districts based on poverty estimates produced by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“We’re confident we will still receive it next year, but we know that there is discomfort surrounding that … so we budgeted to cover for some of that so if we do lose federal funds, we won’t lose our staff immediately,” Johnston said.
The special education budget totals $2,779,985, up $216,766.34 or 8.46%. At present, RSU 48 is able to meet the needs of all students requiring life skills and behavioral programs – like GSB’s Sparkle and Shine programs, respectively – without the need for out-of-district placements, Johnston said.
Facilities and maintenance costs total $864,141, an increase of $195,272 or 29.19%. In addition to the funds needed for planned maintenance and facility repairs, including replacing the broken flashing lights on the school zone signs on Main Street and safety upgrades to playground equipment, the budget includes a $50,000 capital reserve line. Most of the reserve account was utilized to pay for the replacement of GSB’s roof a few years ago, and the account should be replenished over time in the event of a future capital need, Johnston said.
Debt service totals $125,000, an increase of $3,104.01 or 2.55%. The district is in the process of paying back a $1 million bond voters approved for facility improvements in 2023. The loan matures in 2033, Johnston said.
Elsewhere in the budget, student and staff support totals $562,574, a decrease of $122,473.89 or 17.88%; system administration totals $505,837, an increase of $63,794.75 or 14.43%; and school administration totals $421,803, a decrease of $34,542.23 or 7.57%. The bulk of the reduction represented within these three cost centers is due to the formation of RSU 48, which resulted in $139,000 in administrative cost savings, Johnston said.
The line for career and technical education instruction totals $99.99, a decrease of $500.01 or 83.84%. Depending on where they are attending high school, students are able to attend Bath Regional Career and Technical Center in Bath or Mid-Coast School of Technology in Rockland. However, in the event a program a student wishes to attend isn’t offered within their “catchment area,” – the geographic region from which a school draws its students – RSU 48 would be able to cover the cost of the other school, Johnston said.
The other instruction budget, which contains expenses related to after-school programming as well as extra- and co-curricular activities, totals $205,393, an increase of $32,626 or 18.88%; transportation costs total $619,263, a decrease of $8.209 or 1.31%; and food service totals $20,000, a decrease of $40,000 or 66.67%.
Overall, pre-K through eighth grade costs represent 62.29% of the budget, secondary education costs make up 33.53%, and costs associated with system administration make up the remaining 4.18%.
Each town will feel the impact of the budget differently. The amount to be raised from each town in taxes contains two parts: the required local funds, the amount of which is determined by a formula set by the state; and additional local funds, the amount of which is based on the town’s student population.
Bremen will pay $1,272,180.58 in required local funds and $519,356.87 in additional local funds for a total of $1,791,537.45, an increase of $48,844.34 or 2.8%.
Newcastle will be responsible for $2,222,331.67 in required local funds and $1,585,952.56 in additional local funds for a total of $3,808,284.23, an increase of $390,460.75 or 12.52%.
Damariscotta will contribute $2,791,260 in required local funds and $2,030,391.05 in additional local funds for a total of $4,821,751.05, an increase of $536.521.80 or 11.42%.
The district budget meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6 in the Great Salt Bay Community School gymnasium. A 6 p.m. meeting of the Great Salt Bay School Committee will precede the budget vote.
The budget draft and meeting warrant are available in the Bremen, Damariscotta, and Newcastle town offices and posted online at greatsaltbayschool.org.
