SAD 9 looks ahead at difficult budget process

6 mins read

FARMINGTON – MSAD 9 school board directors certified the vote on Mallett School Project, at which voters overwhelmingly approved the construction of a new elementary school, and then got a grim peek at what the upcoming budgetary process may look like.

Superintendent Michael Cormier said that the upcoming reduction in state subsidies for MSAD 9 may exceed the $220,000 cut the district absorbed as part of Governor John Baldacci’s curtailment order in Nov. 2008.

The MSAD 9 towns’ valuations are rising everywhere except Weld, by $106.8 million between 2007 and 2008. That’s an increase of 10.5 percent and bad news for the district’s subsidy, according to Cormier.

“This is not good news for us,” he told the board, “if they [the Department of Education] stick with straight valuation.”

DOE Commissioner Susan Gendron and her staff are looking at other ways to possibly calculate the aid districts receive, such as a three-year average, rather that the typical system which is based off of the communities’ valuation numbers. As things stand now, MSAD 9 would receive less state money due to its higher valuation than it did last year, which was in itself a difficult budget process resulting in seven positions being cut.

The district’s population also continues to decline. The data that Cormier is sending to the state indicates that 2,326 students currently attend MSAD 9 schools. That’s down from 2,382 last March. This declining enrollment will not have an immediate impact on the school’s financial future, as there is typically a period of time before a district begins to lose funding due to a lower student population, but it does mean less money for programs in the long run.

Cormier said he would work to preserve programming as his administration begins looking at a preliminary budget. The state’s financial information is expected to be available mid-February.

There was however, some good news. Due to the Mallett School project’s victory at the polls last week, the district can expect to be reimbursed money spent on architects and during the concept design process. Additionally, the school has saved roughly $75,000 in fuel usage over the past year, as well as retaining Medicaid funding for several more months than previously expected. As a result, the district does have some cash reserves to help blunt to tough news from the state.

“Financially,” Cormier said, “you are more solvent than you have been in the last ten years.”

There is also a possibility that the district could benefit from the federal stimulus package soon to be considered by Congress.

Coincidentally, the school board was faced with a tough financial decision that very evening. Due to changes in the U.S. State Department’s VISA system, the current grant system used to employ a Mandarin Chinese teacher at the high school is no longer possible. Instead, the district will be required to pay roughly $21,000 to continue to employ the teacher, who also teaches an East Asia Studies program and performs outreach work in the elementary schools.

The school board was generally supportive of the program in general, but also aware of the impending budgetary crush in a couple of months.

“It’s going to be a very difficult choice we’re going to have to make,” Chairman Raymond Glass, of Farmington, said.

Director Neil Stinneford, of Weld, was negatively disposed toward the proposal, noting that the school board had previously decided to not teach French at the elementary level. Stinneford had been against the Mandarin program when it was previously introduced to the board with the grant funding.

“I still don’t really see why Chinese is so much better than French,” Stinneford said. He noted that the budget process would likely be “tough” as it was.

The board approved filing an application to let the Department of Education and its Chinese counterpart let those agencies know it was interested in retaining the teacher, Zhu Kungwei, for another year. However, his employment is contingent upon signing a contract with the district which would depend on the budget.

“These are tough economic times,” Cormier said, “but $21,000 for a program like this is a deal.”

Along a similar vein, the board heard reports of the Maine Principals’ Association decision to not substantially reduce the number of games athletic teams participating in the MPA’s events would play.

“Basically what they did was protect the private fiefdoms of athletic programs,” said Stinneford, blasting the outcome of last night’s MPA meeting.

The MPA had originally looked at reducing the number of season games for teams participating in its events among other cost-cutting measures, but finally decided on a few minor changes. Even the possibility of a major reduction in the MPA’s sports program resulted in widespread outrage in newspapers, the state Legislature and elsewhere in the state.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.