Newcastle will absorb a 16.11 percent increase in its 2015-2016 secondary education budget if voters approve the budget at a special town meeting May 13.
The budget totals $1,231,657, an increase of $170,875. The sharp increase is the result of back-to-back 6 percent tuition increases at Lincoln Academy.
Newcastle’s secondary education budget includes all expenses for students in grades nine through 12. Newcastle expects to have 78.5 students in those grades next year, 0.5 less than last year. Most will attend Lincoln Academy.
The increase falls solidly in the regular instruction category of the budget. Newcastle will spend $911,832 on regular instruction in the 2015-2016 school year, an increase of $174,562 or 23.68 percent.
The Maine Department of Education establishes the tuition rate Lincoln Academy can charge towns at the state average of expenditures per public secondary student.
The Central Lincoln County School System expects a 6 percent increase in this rate, although the state does not officially set the rate until December. The 6 percent hike would follow a 3.8 percent increase in 2013 and a 5.9 percent increase in 2014.
Newcastle’s 2014-2015 secondary education budget did not fully account for the 5.9 percent increase, including a 4 percent increase instead. The 2015-2016 budget factors in the forthcoming 6 percent increase plus the unbudgeted portion of last year’s increase.
Newcastle voters will consider the budget at a special town meeting at Great Salt Bay Community School in Damariscotta May 13. The meeting will follow the Great Salt Bay Consolidated School District’s annual budget meeting, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.
A budget validation referendum vote will coincide with Newcastle’s municipal election June 9.
