HOULTON, Maine — Voters in Houlton, Hammond, Littleton and Monticello will be asked to approve a $12,874,619 spending plan for RSU 29 during the district’s annual budget meeting Monday, May 18, 2015.
The district budget meeting is where residents can raise or reduce cost centers of the budget before sending the budget to a district referendum June 9.
“What has been happening to us, and other districts, is the loss of state revenue for our budget,” RSU 29 board chairman Fred Grant said. “That has made things extremely difficult. We have put together a budget that is less than 1 percent over last year, but the tax impact is going to be more significant for the communities.”
Like most school districts in Aroostook County, RSU 29 is facing a double hit when it comes to educational funding. The district is projected to receive less state money, coupled with an increase in the amount of “required local” dollars it must raise in order to receive those state funds.
For RSU 29, the state will provide $8,936,774 in funding, a decrease of $303,691 (3.29 percent) from last year. It marks the first time in recent memory that the district has seen a reduction in the amount of money the state will provide.
In order to receive that $8.9 million, the district must come up with $3,337,728 in required local dollars, which is an increase of $145,720 (4.57 percent) over last year. Also, $158,117 in “additional local” dollars is needed to balance the budget.
“This budget gets us everything that the administrative team identified as priorities for our district,” Grant said. “There are some things that are not in there that we have wanted to do for a number of years. The biggest one being art education.”
Originally, the board hoped to add an elementary art position to the budget, but that position did not make the final cut. The district was also looking to create a new communications coordinator position, in the hopes that the job could produce new revenue by enticing students to come to RSU 29 with a more proactive presence in both the media and online.
At $12.8 million, the budget is less than one percent higher than last year, but because of the changes in the state and local funding requirements, many taxpayers will likely see an increase in their bills.
On April 29, the district’s finance committee held its final budget workshop and discussed a proposal that would have cut an additional $158,117 from the overall budget. That plan was met with opposition from the finance committee, as well as the roughly 70 members of the public who attended the meeting. Many of those in attendance were staff in the district.
Among the areas that were targeted for reductions, were: eliminating stipends that make up the high school musical production; cutting junior varsity baseball, softball and boys and girls soccer programs, as well as middle school tennis; removing stipends for robotics classes, which are typically held after school; eliminating one high school social studies/English language arts position; cutting the purchase of new textbooks for third grade; and eliminating funding for all school field trips. The plan also would have required instituting a pay system for any student participating in extra-curricular activities/sports.
While the school board unanimously approved the budget Monday evening with little discussion, there were plenty of comments during the April 29 finance meeting as members of the board and public spoke out against the proposals to eliminate stipends, particularly those for the high school musical.
“For one thing, this activity fee we think will bring us $10,000 (in revenue), but with all these cuts, they won’t have anything to be active in,” said board member Sandra Wilkins. “A lot of these programs keep kids here.”
“My major concern is we portray ourselves as a very supportive community, how are we portraying that to the kids by taking away so much,” asked board member Jennifer Johnson. “Some of these kids need structure and these things are a reward for their academic success. If you cut jayvee sports, you are not going to be as competitive or successful. You will lose a whole age group.”
Resident Becky Day, a local realtor, said many people look at school districts and what they have to offer when choosing where to buy their next home.
“One of the major questions I get is ‘which schools offer which activities?’” Day said.
“If you eliminate these things, they won’t ever come back,” added resident Heather Johnson.
Tim Tweedie, a social studies teacher at the high school and girls varsity soccer coach, said he went back and looked at the November elections and noticed Houlton residents voted in favor of five of the six bond issues, totaling $39 million.
“How can we give $39 million as a community, but we can’t come up with a couple $100,000 for our kids?” he asked.
