PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The MSAD 1 board of directors voted to adopt next school year’s budget Wednesday and also endorsed a non-binding resolution in support of preserving the educational farm.
The board members voted unanimously to adopt the $25.15 million budget for the 2019-2020 school year, and it will again appear at a district budget meeting on May 8 and then a validation referendum on May 21.
The $25.15 million budget is a 1.4 percent increase over the current budget, but does not increase local taxes, with most of the additional revenue coming from increases in state funding.
The budget includes $500,000 for the installation of synthetic turf at the Presque Isle Middle School athletic complex and $75,000 for repairs to the Pine Street Elementary roof. It also includes the elimination of four teaching positions, a half-time secretary position and a part-time bus driver position.
The board also voted unanimously in favor of a resolution proposed by interim superintendent Gehrig Johnson that outlines non-binding support for preserving the school farm property.
The 38-acre property that hosts the working educational farm was gifted to the district by the Conant family, who asked that the district never sell the land, Johnson said. There’s currently nothing to prevent the district from selling it, and there’s nothing in the board’s records to indicate support for preserving the Conant family’s wishes, Johnson said.
The resolution passed Wednesday does not bind future boards, but is now a part of the record, Johnson said.
In other MSAD 1 news, Johnson told the board that Pine Street Elementary would be reviving its library program that was phased out previously.
“Every school should have a library,” he said.
The board also heard a presentation from high school students about their student newspaper, The Anchor, which was started as a journalism project with high school English teacher Marcie Young. It’s published online, at PIHSAnchor.com, and is one of the few high school student newspapers in northern Maine.
