Damariscotta selectmen Josh Pinkham and Vicki Pinkham expressed shock at a large increase in the town’s education budget, despite the availability and repeated publication of the figures months in advance.
Josh Pinkham wants Great Salt Bay Community School to consider increasing class sizes to save Damariscotta money, he told district and school officials.
The statements from Josh Pinkham and Vicki Pinkham came during the Aug. 15 meeting of the Damariscotta Board of Selectmen.
Central Lincoln County School System Superintendent Steve Bailey, Business Manager Kati Hunt and Damariscotta’s representatives to the Great Salt Bay School Committee met with the selectmen to respond to questions about Damariscotta’s share of the 2012-2013 education budget.
Josh Pinkham and Selectman Vicki Pinkham said the district told the board at a meeting early this year that there wouldn’t be a net increase in Damariscotta’s share of the K-12 education budget.
Later, when the time came to set the 2012-2013 tax rate last month, the $181,336 net increase “was a shock to us,” Vicki Pinkham said.
“We all looked at each other and said ‘What happened?'” Josh Pinkham said.
In April The Lincoln County News, reported the district’s estimate of a $206,610 net increase, a number that actually decreased before voters approved the elementary and secondary education budgets at meetings May 9 and 16, respectively.
The article in the April 26 edition reads, in part, “A $231,219 increase in the town’s share of the elementary education budget, however, might represent the most significant impact to the tax rate.”
The Lincoln County News again reported the significant increase in Damariscotta’s share of the elementary education budget in the May 3 and 17 editions.
The same figures were available to the selectmen, yet no one objected until the July 18 selectmen’s meeting.
The 10.9 percent increase in Damariscotta’s share of the elementary education budget does not reflect a similar increase in the school’s budget. Instead, it reflects an increase in the number of Damariscotta students who attend Great Salt Bay Community School.
GSB serves Bremen, Damariscotta and Newcastle. Bremen will have seven fewer students attending the school this fall than three years ago; Newcastle 9.5 fewer. Damariscotta will have 16 more students, thus, it shoulders a larger share of the school’s budget.
Bremen and Newcastle will pay less than they did last year.
Despite this explanation, Josh Pinkham said the town worked hard this year to ensure only a minimal increase in the municipal budget. He said the school should consider cost-savings measures, such as consolidating classes.
“We’re just encouraging you, that we’d like you to do the same thing we’re doing,” he said.
Great Salt Bay’s class size policy, adopted in 2003, established a target class size of 15 students for K-3 classes; 20 for grades 4-8. The committee “recognizes that greater direct teacher contact with pupils is a positive aspect toward the educational growth of children,” according to the policy.
