SALEM — The proposed budget for the 2022-2023 school year at MSAD 58 passed the budget validation vote with an increase of $12,000, intended for middle school athletics.
The school board and approximately 30 residents of MSAD 58, which includes the towns of Kingfield, Avon, Strong, and Phillips, met on Tuesday to validate the proposed budget.
Budget seasons are often challenging but this year was exceptional as the board worked to reduce the burden on local taxpayers while balancing a heathy and functional education system in the district.
Due to increased property valuation and decreased state subsidies, the district faced a signigacant increase for local taxpayers. After months of work on the budget, including reconfiguring the district and cutting over a dozen staffing positions to reduce the budget by over $1 million, the board and administrative team proposed a budget just over $10.1 million.
This budget was just under $200,000 less than the budget adopted two years ago. The overall increase is 8.058 percent, with an increase to local taxpayers of 3.800 percent.
Tom Saviello was selected as the moderator for the meeting. He reported that Paul Mills typically moderates these meetings for MSAD 58 but he was preoccupied with a meeting in RSU 9 so volunteered Saviello for the job.
A resident, whose identity was not clear, made a motion to decrease the funds for regular instruction by $15,000, saying that there were teacher positions that he did not feel needed to be filled at the high school and that some of the stipend positions should be removed. This motion failed.
Board member Sue Pratt from Strong made a motion to cut $500,000 from the regular instruction budget section. This figure was the estimated shortfall the district will face next year based on the proposed budget. Pratt also called for a written ballot on this motion: it was voted down with 7 in favor and 32 opposed. The regular instruction budget then passed at the school board recommended amount of $2,743,610.
The special education budget passed at the recommended $2,754,111. Approximately 25 percent of students within the district receive services through the special education department, according to special education director Laureen Olson.
A motion was made to increase the ‘other instruction’ budget by $12,000 with the increase intended for the middle school athletics programming. About $32,000 was cut from athletics by condensing the three middle school sports teams into one team at the newly created middle school. Wendy Warnock, a parent from Avon, advocated for increased funds to allow two middle school sports teams to better support the middle school students. This motion passed.
Another motion was made to reduce the budget for other instruction by $15,000 – $10,000 for the stipend for the athletic director and $5,000 for the strength and conditioning coach. Several people spoke in support of the two positions. The AD position is critical for the entire athletics department, a coach from Strong said. The strength and conditioning coach works with more students than just the athletes, and has been working in a volunteer role previously. The motion to cut the stipends failed.
Voters approved $705,988 for student and staff support and $526,547 for system administration,
Julie Talmage, a board member from Kingfield, made a motion to reduce the school administration budget by $10,000, citing new hires with lower salaries. Superintendent Todd Sanders reported that the newly hired principal at the high school had a higher level of experience and thus a higher salary. The motion made by Talmage failed and the recommended budget amount of $727,068 passed.
The budget recommended for transportation and buses was for $931,777 and the facilities and maintenance budget was for $1,374,566. Both budgets passed.
The school board recommended budgets of $0 for the career and technical education and the debt service budgets. Both were approved by voters.
An additional $143,919 was approved for ‘all other expenditures’.
An article to raise funds and maximize the state subsidy passed, along with articles to appropriate $21,274 for adult education and to allow the school board to accept and expend other sums such as grants, awards, and donations received during the year.
The following article, to raise additional local taxpayer funds, had a recommended $1,877,465. Pratt made a motion for that sum and requested a written ballot vote. A subsequent motion was made to amend the sum to include the $12,000 raised earlier for the middle school athletics; the amendment passed with 26 in favor, 11 opposed, and one spoiled ballot. The amended motion for additional local funds, now totaling $1,889,465, passed.
The voters passed a budget of $10,144,846 for the 2022-2023 year.
The validated budget will go to individual towns for a vote sometime in June.
