HOULTON, Maine — The RSU 29 school board signed off on a plan Wednesday evening that will send the sixth grade class to Houlton Junior-Senior High School and move third-graders to Houlton Southside School starting this fall.
The restructuring is part of a plan to reduce the 2014-15 school budget by about $150,000 after the spending plan failed at the polls June 10. By reducing the budget by this amount, the district will be able to avoid any “additional local” funds.
Fred Grant, RSU 29 board chairman, said the decision to the move the grades was unanimous by the board. Just two weeks prior, the concept failed to garner support as the board voted 5-6 against the plan.
The revised budget of $12,751,396, is an increase of about 0.57 percent over last year. Earlier this month, voters rejected the $12.9 million spending plan at the polls, 318-450. The board then came up with a plan to trim $150,927 from the overall budget, by eliminating an assistant principal position (which was a new position at Houlton Elementary School next year), at a savings of $72,000; eliminating a plan to lease modular classrooms ($48,312); cutting $15,615 from the Houlton Southside School After-School Program; and cutting $15,000 from the heating oil account.
The elimination of the modular classrooms prompted the need to shuffle grades in the district. The other option was to move pre-K to Houlton Southside School for one year, with the idea of moving the sixth- and third-grade classes in the 2015-16 school year.
Grant said the board felt it was unwise to uproot the pre-K for one year, only to move them back to HES the following year.
“With the budget not passing, this (moving sixth- and third-grade) really is the best option,” Grant said.
Residents will have an opportunity to ask questions and make changes on the spending plan at the district budget meeting, scheduled for at 6 p.m. in the high school auditorium.
RSU 29 will receive $9,240,465 from the state next year, which is an increase of $423,224 over the previous year. The required local share, which is the amount the district must raise to receive those state funds is $3,192,008 (an increase of $84,164).
The last time a school budget failed at the polls was about five years ago, according to Grant. At that time, the school board did not make any reductions to its budget and presented the same spending plan, which passed on its second vote.
