RSU 12 has released its draft 2017-2018 budget. The proposed $21.6 budget is a 3.54 percent increase from the current year, the largest increase in Superintendent Howard Tuttle’s tenure with the district, he said at a RSU 12 Board of Directors meeting Thursday, March 9.
With several proposed changes to education funding in Gov. Paul LePage’s biennial budget under debate in the Legislature, “there are more questions on (state) funding than answers,” board Chair Jerry Nault said.
Preliminary subsidy figures were less than anticipated, Tuttle said, placing the local share of the proposed budget at $11,456,474, a 6.83 percent increase from the 2016-2017 local share of $10,723,711.
Due to RSU 12’s cost-sharing formula, Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Whitefield, and Windsor are facing increases that range from 2.4 to 13.5 percent. Westport Island is the only community that may see a decrease in 2017-2018, largely due to a decrease in the town’s student count.
True local contribution figures will not be known until E.D. 279, the law that establishes the state funding formula for public education, passes through the Legislature, Nault said. The process may not be complete until the summer, after the RSU 12 budget goes to voters for approval, he said.
The uncertainty about state funding is a further complication to the 2017-2018 budget process, Tuttle said. In the current funding formula, RSU 12 receives 57 percent of its funding through the state. “We get hit hard when the state changes the formula,” Tuttle said.
An earlier draft of the 2017-2018 expense budget was a 7 percent increase over the 2016-2017 figure, but it was whittled down to the current $21,614,183, Tuttle said. The budget is a 3.54 percent increase from the 2016-2017 budget of $20,875,996.
Administrators continue to review the budget to try to identify additional areas of savings, Tuttle said. The budget will be presented during selectmen’s meetings in the seven-town district to solicit feedback and undergo further revision before it is presented to the RSU 12 board for approval in April, he said.
Increased tuition for high school students was the driving force behind the budget increase – the projected increase encompasses $344,000 of the overall budget increase of $738,187.
RSU 12 is one of the only school districts in the state without a high school, resulting in a tuition budget of about $5 million, Tuttle said.
Teacher, support staff, and administrator pay scale increases comprise $166,967 of the budget increase. Additional teachers need to be hired in Chelsea and Palermo, Tuttle said, which adds $100,000 to the budget.
The budget includes a $20,000 increase to allow for two social workers to work in the district through a collaboration with a social service organization, Tuttle said. Students are entering school with behavioral health issues “like never before,” he said.
While Tuttle said he personally has not felt that schools should provide mental health services, the district is in a situation where “if we don’t do it, no one will,” he said.
Through the collaboration, two social workers will be available to students and will bill students’ insurance for services rendered. The collaboration is a “creative solution” to offer services at a low cost, Tuttle said.
The budget accounts for additional hours for an occupational therapist to work with students. Teachers are finding that many students have problems with their motor skills due to “not moving around enough,” Tuttle said.
With the U.S. Department of Education’s pre-kindergarten expansion grant set to end soon, RSU 12’s expanded pre-K program is beginning to be incorporated into the budget, Tuttle said. The grant is still active, but RSU 12 is beginning to include the costs to prevent a budget “cliff” when the grant ends, he said.
The 2017-2018 budget also includes two new buses. The state will reimburse the district for one of the buses, Tuttle said.
While the state subsidy figures and funding formula are subject to change, RSU 12 is projecting a 6.8 percent increase in its local contribution.
According to the current estimates of each town’s local contribution, Alna will pay $948,985, an increase of $59,138 or 6.64 percent; Somerville will pay $591,975, an increase of $20,827 or 3.64 percent; and Whitefield will pay $2,285,493, an increase of $123,195 or 5.69 percent.
Chelsea will pay $2,314,125, an increase of $179,121 or 8.38 percent; Palermo $1,914,748, an increase of $45,205 or 2.41 percent; and Windsor $2,702,762, an increase of $323,408 or 13.59 percent.
Windsor’s increase is largely due to an increase in the town’s valuation, which resulted in a decrease in subsidy, Tuttle said.
Westport Island is the only town in RSU 12 that is projected to see a decrease in its local contribution. Westport Island’s projected local contribution of $698,382 is an $18,133 or 2.53 percent decrease.
RSU 12 administrators and board members are scheduled to meet with the boards of selectmen in each town in its district throughout March and early April.
