RSU 50, comprised of Southern Aroostook Community High School and Katahdin High School held their regular board meeting on Monday in the Southern Aroostook Community School library.
The meeting began at 6:30 p.m. and held a fair number of community members in the audience. The main issue addressed was the RSU 50 budget, which sparked discussion lasting more than an hour’s time and was met with both positive and negative feedback from both the board and the audience.
After meeting was called to order and quorum declared, a plaque of appreciation was presented to Jeff Hardy, who had served on the board for 15 years; he joked that he was tempted to participate in the board’s activities as he sat in the audience.
During public comment, Rae Bates of Patten was the only citizen to speak and voiced her concerns about the budget. She began by stating that she respected the amount of work administrators have done on the budget, but requested very little increase in subsidy because taxes have become unaffordable.
“We’ve got people leaving our district,” Bates added as a plea for change. “They’re taking their kids and they’re leaving,” she continued.
A summary of school enrollment supported Bates’ testament: numbers are declining. The proposed budget reflected the fact that class size is decreasing. Parts of the budget dealt with cutting teacher positions and combining two classes into one larger class.
Southern Aroostook Community Middle School was used as an example in this instance; Jon Porter, principal of SACS confirmed that if the separate classes in each grade of the middle school were combined, the largest class size would be 22 students.
RSU 50 superintendent Larry Malone spearheaded the discussion on the budget and asked the board for “some direction in regards to a final number.”
He also asserted that the budget shows increases in certain areas and defended these changes by explaining that last year’s budget was very tight and some areas were under funded.
“[We needed to] put some numbers in there that will survive,” Malone concluded.
Overall, the budget has seen a 1.39 percent increase; however, some areas where cuts have been made were met with concern by the board. Some school directors voiced their concern for the apparent reduction in funding for education-related areas while administrative and facilities funding had increased.
Malone referenced declining numbers to defend these changes: the reduction in funding for education-related areas was possible due to cuts in teaching positions that were deemed unnecessary because of small class sizes. For example, consolidation of smaller classes into one larger class would lead to a total of 2.5 position cuts in SACS Middle School, he said.
“The big bear in the room is the $1.4 million in facility maintenance,” board member Stephen Walker said of the budget.
Much discussion revolved around the increase in facility maintenance and decrease in education funding; Scot Walker made the point that a consolidation to one central school would be possible in coming years; therefore, the facilities maintenance may be of little use and concentration should be placed on educating the children.
After discussion of this topic passed the one-hour mark, Malone asked for some move by the board. He requested that another special meeting be held to discuss the budget further and make recommendations for change; however, approval to present the budget to the public was soon granted by all but two board members.
Many board members were disheartened because they believe that the budget will not pass. One member asserted that while speaking with town managers he was told that if the budget shows any increase it won’t pass.
“The communities haven’t shown that they believe in us,” another board member added.
Other discussion held during the meeting concerned the recent release of the state’s “report card.” RSU 50 received the following grades; Katahdin Elementary School received a “C,” Katahdin Middle/High School received a “D,” Southern Aroostook Elementary and Middle Schools received a “C,” and Southern Aroostook High School received a “D.”
“I’m disappointed in how the state has chosen to report the grades,” Malone said. “It’s one snapshot in time. I think there’s an underlying purpose for grading in this manner,” he added.
Malone also included that the grades were not surprising to the staff. He ended on a positive note, however, by asserting that graduation rates have increased at the two schools.
Many board members used these grades as a plea to limit the number of reductions in education funding in the budget.
The next board meeting will be held Wednesday, May 29 and a budget meeting at Katahdin High School will take place on Thursday, June 13 to give the voters a chance to weigh in.
