For the fifth time this fiscal year, stakeholders in the Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit (RSU 12) approved a 2009-’10 operating budget at a May 22 meeting at the Windsor School.
The 2010 budget has been rejected by voters four times, most recently in January. In April, a fifth version, totaling $26,109, 946, was approved by the school board. The RSU has been operating without an approved budget for the entirety of the school year, and the most recent version of the budget was approved at Saturday’s meeting with little discussion, except as related to carry-over funds.
Over 70 people attended the Saturday meeting, which also resulted in approval of the 2010-’11 operating budget. Both budgets will go to voters for a ratification vote on June 8.
The 2011 budget totals $24,879,630, which represents a five percent reduction from the 2010 school year. In order to off-set state budget cuts and achieve the five percent budget reduction, cuts will be made in several areas, including school supplies, summer programming, school bus routes, special education, and regular classroom instruction time. 7.5 teaching regular classroom teaching positions will be eliminated, although most of this reduction will be accomplished through regularly scheduled retirements.
The most controversial item was the elimination of in-town bus service for Chelsea high school students. Several parents stated that elimination of in-town service would result in increased high school drop-out rates, as students would have no way to transport themselves to a central pick-up location. One parent said that she works two jobs and would be unable to transport her son to the Chelsea School for morning pick-up.
Chelsea bus driver Brian Gelina said that because the bus route elimination would result in a reduction of his weekly hours, he would no longer be eligible for health insurance. “I’ve had this job for 10 years,” he said. “I love my job, I bought a house here and built my life here. I have a family to support. I’m just trying to put a face on the cuts you’re making.”
Other Chelsea parents expressed concern about whether their Spanish and special education teachers would lose classroom instruction time. One parent said he felt Chelsea was bearing undue hardship under the new budget, and said that while he understands the need for equity among all towns and schools, “I hope we’re not in a race to the bottom.”
Several Alna residents, on the other hand, expressed frustration that their post-consolidation tax rates had increased more than any other town’s, with one resident wondering why Alna and other towns were sharing in the costs of a Chelsea School addition and new emergency generator that were approved just three weeks prior to consolidation.
RSU 12 Superintendent Greg Potter and several school board members repeatedly cited the need for equity across towns and said they were doing their best to accomplish equity. “We’re not there yet,” said Potter.
In a show of unity, one parent stood to say, “We’re all in this together, we all want the best education possible for our children.”
Another sticking point was what to do with the estimated one percent carry-over from fiscal year 2010. One Wiscasset resident wanted assurance that any carry-over will be used to off-set the RSU’s debt of 1.5 million dollars, which was repeatedly referred to as “the white elephant.”
Potter and school board members cited a commitment to paying down this debt, while being unable to promise that carry-over funds would be used in this way. “We’ve already lowered our contingency,” said Potter. “We don’t know what we’ll have left-over. I think it’s best to be conservative.”
