CARIBOU, Maine – Regional School Unit 39 officials want to better understand what the community might want out of next year’s budget.
On Wednesday, Oct. 16, RSU 39 will hold a financial forum at Caribou High School’s cafeteria from 6 to 7 p.m. following the regular school board meeting.
The forum is designed for community members to share ideas on how the district might get creative to reduce costs while avoiding deep cuts, and increase revenues, said Lou Willey, a school board member who helped organize the forum.
Voters approved a fiscal year budget of $23.44 million for 2024-2025. That total was a jump from the $23.3 million that board members originally proposed. A majority of voters at the district budget meeting approved adding $90,000 in hopes that officials would not cut a vacant fifth-grade teacher position.
After the budget passed, board members learned that some community members had ideas they wanted to share, so the forum seemed like a good start, Willey said.
“We thought this might be a great time to have community members come in [and] get their opinions out there,” Willey said at the board’s Oct. 2 meeting. “We’re hoping for a good turnout.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the location for the financial forum.
