The school board of Caribou and Stockholm’s RSU 39 voted to move forward a budget proposal Wednesday that would reduce the tax burden on Caribou residents by more than $475,000 if approved by voters.
It’s the first formal step in the district’s third attempt to pass a budget, a process that has now dragged on since early May after two failed validation referendums — the first and second in the district’s history.
The board turned an increased municipal ask of $227,153 to a decrease of $233,574 over its fiscal year 2025 budget in part by eliminating three existing positions, deferring the hiring of an innovation teacher and curriculum coordinator and reducing the working schedule of another three employees.
Several other cuts, including eliminating overtime to cover detentions at Caribou High School and deferring part of a payment for new middle school science textbooks, came from suggestions made by the public in a July 23 budget workshop.
The workshop was the first of its kind for the district, an attempt to work with a public increasingly unhappy with rising property taxes and prevent going deeper into the school year — which begins on Aug. 20 — without an approved budget.
“We don’t want to come back here again,” Councilor Jan Tompkins said during the workshop. “As you can see in our schedule here, we’re not rushing back to the polls like we did the last time.”
Voters decidedly shot down a $24.9 million initial budget on June 10, which represented a $1.5 million increase over the previous year that would have levied $284,582 in property tax increases on Caribou residents.
Less than a month later, the district returned to the table with a budget reduced by roughly $60,000 for a July 8 referendum. Voters again rejected that proposal, though the margin grew slimmer.
In June, the vote was 452-171, a difference of 291. In July, the final tally came to 457-277, a difference of 180. Notably, more than a hundred new voters took to the polls in the second referendum.
In Stockholm, where the proposed budgets would have caused property taxes to decrease, a majority of residents voted in favor in each referendum. But in a town of 250, where an average of 29 people voted in the referendums, the result made little dent on the will of Caribou, a city of more than 7,000.
The third budget proposal that the school board recommended Wednesday now heads to a budget meeting on Aug. 20 for a public vote. If approved there, it will come before voters in a Sept. 9 referendum.
RSU 39 Business Manager Mark Bouchard spoke against the recommended budget during the meeting, saying that the proposal “is cutting our budget way too deep.” He urged councilors to consider a previously discussed budget proposal that would still reduce taxes, but at a lesser consequence to students.
“I believe that the mandate of the voters was to provide a flat budget,” Bouchard said. “If we were to approve the 3-13 proposal, we would be $114,000 below a flat budget and it also leaves the innovation teacher position in the budget and no positions that directly impact student learning would be deferred or eliminated.”
The specifics of the proposal Bouchard cited are unclear. It was one of the proposals discussed during the executive session in which the board put forth the more expansive budget it recommended Wednesday.
Kristen Thibeault, a kindergarten teacher at Caribou Community School and vice president of the Eastern Aroostook Education Association, also opposed deferring the hiring of an innovation teacher — a position currently unfilled after the previous teacher left the district. The position operates within the school’s Innovation Center, a program she described as a “more modern tech ed.”
“Part of what makes [The Caribou Community School] so special is the impact of the Innovation Center,” Thibeault said. “These technical skills can translate into real-world application and opportunity. Losing this position would truly be a disservice to our students.”
