In a close vote, Wiscasset residents validated the town’s $10,744,119 education budget on Thursday, Sept. 4.
Having previously approved the budget proposal with minimal discussion during a special town meeting July 23, residents voted 123-121 at the polls to validate the budget, which represents a $171,116 or 1.62% increase over the previous year budget.
Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson said in an email this year’s budget supports students and staff’s continuous improvement while increasing expenses by less than 2%.
“I am grateful to the 123 people who supported the budget and enabled us to move forward as a school department,” Andersson said.
The budget’s passage follows the initial $10,896,270.38 proposal’s failure at the polls on June 10. The Wiscasset School Committee had a split vote on that proposal on March 18 and residents approved the budget during a three-hour special town meeting on April 29.
After the June validation vote, Andersson and the school committee reconsidered the budget line by line and cut around $150,000 of expenses, Andersson said in July.
The biggest cuts hit the facilities and maintenance budget, which now totals $1,415,255, a drop of $117,407 or 7.66% from the initial proposal. Andersson said reserve funds may end up covering any gaps from the budget reductions.
“I am glad we had the opportunity for this second to be passed because I think it cleared the doubt that some school committee members may have had,” Andersson said. “This sets us up for a successful year working together for Wiscasset schools.”
Compared to what voters approved in fiscal year 2025, the budget categories are as follows: regular instruction totals $3,659,732.45, an increase of $153,036.67 or 4.36% from last year; special education totals $2,592,575.96, an increase of $31,029.31 or 1.21%; other instruction totals $399,659.48, a decrease of $2,921.45 or 0.73%; student and staff support totals
$789,351.16, an increase of $18,924.14 or 2.46%; system administration totals $524,243.68, an increase of $31,227.07 or 6.33%; school administration totals $614,865.71, an increase of $72,459.43 or 13.36%; transportation and buses totals $698,435.65, an increase of $1,451.13 or 0.21%; facilities and maintenance totals $1,415,255.33, a decrease of $134,089.45 or 8.65%; and other food service totals $50,000, the same amount as last year.
