Wiscasset residents vote on a warrant article pertaining to the town’s education budget during a special town meeting at Wiscasset Elementary School on Wednesday, July 23. Voters decided to approve a new version of the town’s school budget totaling $10,744,119, $152,151 less than the figure they failed to validate at the polls in June. (Ali Juell photo)
With minimal discussion, Wiscasset voters passed a new education budget totaling $10,744,119 for the 2026 fiscal year during a special town meeting in the Wiscasset Elementary School gym on Wednesday, July 23.
The budget represents a $171,116 or 1.62% increase over last year’s budget.
This is the second time Wiscasset voters have considered of an education budget for fiscal year 2026. After a split vote from the
Wiscasset School Committee on March 18 and a three-hour special town meeting to pass the budget on April 29, voters ultimately failed to validate the proposed $10,896,270.38 education budget at the polls on June 10.
Since then, the school committee went back to the drawing board “to study line by line and understand all aspects of the budget” so they could cut around $150,000 of expenses, according to Wiscasset Superintendent of Schools Kim Andersson.
Ultimately the committee put forward a figure that was $152,151 or 1.4% less than the initial proposal.
“This gave our new school committee an opportunity to coalesce around the new budget,” Andersson said. “I’m very proud of
the work that they’ve done.”
The reduced budget did not impact staffing numbers, which Andersson said was a priority for committee members.
“The school committee did not want to cut anything that would impact personnel or directly impact programming,” she said.
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 first proposal. Lower estimated spending for the electricity, water, and sewer services accounted for most of the reduction.
“We have come in under budget in those lines in the past two years, so it looked like we (could) reduce the budgeted amounts,” Andersson said.
Reserve funds may end up covering any gaps, mainly the fuel reserve and special education reserve, according to Andersson. This fiscal year, those funds are $50,000 and $225,000, respectively.
One of the only categories that increased with the new proposal was special education, which totals $2,592,576, an increase of $44,519 or 1.75% from this spring’s draft.
Andersson said the higher amount came from more students requiring specialized placements than had been anticipated.
In another jump, system administration went up to $524,244, a $9,365 or 1.82% increase from March due to liability insurance
and audit fee increases.
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.
Wiscasset voters will consider whether to validate the budget at the polls on Thursday, Sept. 4. Residents can vote at the Wiscasset Community Center, at 242 Gardiner Road, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information, go to wiscassetschools.org.
