Facing a potential budget shortfall, Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 officials have enacted a freeze of the current budget.
Meeting Oct. 10, RSU 12 Finance Chairman Jerry Nault told the RSU 12 Board of Directors expected revenues have not topped $1 million as projected. The lower than expected revenues combined with over expenditures of approximately $291,434, created a serious financial problem for the school district.
Chelsea representative Barbara Skehan said the news was embarrassing “like a slap in the face.” “How could this happen?” Skehan asked. “Are we not budgeting correctly?”
Nault responded saying overspending by just over one percent on a $25 million dollar budget is not unusual, and there is no effective control over estimated revenues.
“It isn’t that we are not budgeting correctly, we are budgeting very close to the cuff,” RSU 12 Board Chair Hilary Holm said,
Nault was asked by a committee member if the freeze would continue on to next year’s budget. He implied he didn’t believe the shortfall of this year’s budget could be recovered in one year.
Before voting on the motion to freeze the budget School Superintendent Howard Tuttle was asked exactly what would a freeze do. He replied that all expenditures that are not essential would need to be approved by him, such as office supplies, field trips, conferences and etc.
RSU 12 is also facing the possibility of four of their eight towns withdrawing from the school district, Wiscasset, Westport Island, Palermo, and Windsor. if any of these towns did withdrawal, it would also impact the revenue to the RSU.
According to RSU 12 Ad-hoc Negotiation Committee report given to the board members, the status of Wiscasset’s withdrawal is ready for a final municipal vote on Nov. 5.
Most of Westport Island’s withdrawal plan has been agreed upon. Once the result of Wiscasset’s vote to withdraw is determined Westport Island will submit a version to RSU 12 Board members and Department of Education for approval.
The Palermo Withdrawal Committee and the Ad Hoc committee have not met since Sept. 5. A Sept. 24 meeting was canceled due to Palermo’s open house and the Ad Hoc committee needing more time to research information and get advice from legal counsel. The basic language of the agreement has been established. There are still three sections that need to be determined. The next meeting will be scheduled once the Ad Hoc committee shares the research information and legal counsel’s advice with Palermo, according to the report.
The RSU Ad-hoc Negotiating committee has not been in contact with the Windsor Withdrawal committee. According to the Ad-hoc’s report, the Windsor Withdrawal Committee are working on their agreement with regular meetings at the Windsor town office.
Should Wiscasset vote to withdraw from the RSU, it would leave RSU 12 without a high school of record, a requirement of an RSU to exist. A proposed contract for one year with Augusta School Department was accepted by a large majority of the RSU School Board.
Following a lengthy discussion on the Teacher Evaluation Performance Growth Plan, the RSU board accepted the 2013-2014 version of the system.
The purpose of the TEPG system is an effective teacher evaluation system to improve teaching practices, and measuring student growth in their classroom.
The RSU 12 School Board accepted the resignations of Warren Cossett, schools basket ball coach for the Wiscasset Middle School, and Colleen Doucette. Bus driver for the Windsor Elementary school. Both resignations were accepted with regret.
The following nominations were accepted by the school board: Mike Giampetruzzi, was hired as a district wide Gifted/talented Ed Tech III; Marlo Young, Special Ed Tech II, for Chelsea School; and Benjamin Clark, Jr. Varsity Girls Basket Ball Coach for Wiscasset High School.
