FARMINGTON – Preliminary budget recommendations were presented by the MSAD 9 administration to the school board and a large audience Tuesday night, setting up another two months of weekly meetings, long debates and tough decisions.
With valuation continuing to increase and enrollment numbers dropping, the board was told that the administration is currently recommending a $425,000 decrease from the current 2008-2009 budget. That’s a 1.78 percent decrease in expenditures between the 2008-2009 fiscal year and the proposed budget for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. Four classroom teaching positions, among several others, would be cut by the plan.
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Superintendent Michael Cormier began by explaining why the district expects to lose $800,000 or more in state subsidies for the next fiscal year when revenue numbers are released in the coming weeks by the state. Every town in MSAD 9, except Weld, saw its valuation increase. The district’s average increase was 10.5 percent, higher than the state’s average valuation increase of 9.2 percent. Higher valuations mean that the district receives less money for each student enrolled.
There are less students as well. Cormier is expecting a 60 student decline in the district’s enrollment from last year. Less students means less state money and typically can result in a loss of programs. Cormier and his administration have said in the past, and reiterated Tuesday, that their priorities are to maintain class sizes, minimize the elimination of programs and try to bring the budget in line with the Essential Programs and Services formula as reasonably possible.
The state’s EpS formula system is used by the Department of Education to determine how much a school district should be spending to educate their students. However, as Cormier noted, that formula under funds districts in several areas, such as administration costs, sports programs and transportation. More than 80 percent of the districts in the state currently spend more than the EPS formula recommends.
“Unless you want the bare minimum,” Cormier said, “you’re likely going to go over.”
However, since anything above the EPS formula is entirely funded locally, school districts must try and maintain some relationship between their own budgets and EPS.
With that in mind, the administration is recommending the elimination of four teaching positions, one at Cushing School, one at Mallett School, one in Cascade Brook School and one at the Mt. Blue High School.
Other recommendations include reducing the assistant principal/athletic director at Mt. Blue Middle School to a half-time position, eliminating a special education position and eliminating the certification consultant position and having the Cape Cod Hill School principal assume those duties.
Other adjustments include the elimination of an education tech at Academy Hill School, two and a half secretarial positions and the elimination of a librarian position. Cormier is also recommending reducing classroom music by one day a week, a 5 percent reduction in supply/textbook money and a total of $9,500 in reductions to athletic supply and field work accounts at the middle school and high school.
Some good news may be that the school will be receiving some federal stimulus money, although the exact amount and timing of that funding isn’t known yet. Cormier noted that the funding would end in two years, and should therefore not be used for major program expansions but rather infrastructure improvements.
The district has a list of possibilities here, including roofing projects at Cascade Brook, Academy Hill and the bus garage. Other options include replacing windows at Academy Hill with energy efficient models, rebuilding the Cape Cod Hill School driveway, replacing the gym floor at Cushing and the lights at Cascade Brook.
Some projected savings in the district’s heating oil and diesel lines is expected to go toward some of these projects as well.
Several other initiatives may provoke some debate among the board members as well. An application for pre-K pilot program for the Mallett School area has been filed, which would initially cost the district $15,000 for the first year. Stimulus money could go toward that program, and Cormier believes that the program will be making the district money after the first year.
