FARMINGTON – Residents of Mt. Blue Regional School District’s ten towns voted against validating a $33.9 million budget at Tuesday evening’s referendum, but did support a $318,000 bond issue for district-wide facility improvements.
The result marks the third straight year that the budget was not validated in the first vote; the 2015 and 2016 budgets were later ratified after reductions in a second round of voting. The preliminary, unofficial tally indicates that 1,457 votes were cast in favor of the budget, with 1,641 votes cast in opposition.
Preliminary town-by-town results for the validation vote:
Weld – 34 yes and 52 no
Temple – 65 yes and 75 no
Chesterville – 61 yes and 183 no
Starks – 84 yes and 19 no
Industry – 65 yes and 89 no
Farmington – 644 yes and 501 no
New Vineyard – 31 yes and 109 no
New Sharon – 139 yes and 207 no
Vienna – 61 yes and 57 no
Wilton – 273 yes and 349 no
The budget approved at the June 1 meeting represented an increase of $1,148,163 over the current fiscal year, or 3.51 percent. Additions include additional half-time teaching positions at Mt. Blue Campus in the American Sign Language and science programs, as well as part-time counseling positions to Foster Technology Center and Mt. Blue High School. In the Special Services program, the hours of ed techs in the Adaptive Life Skills program would have been increased and an additional 17 ed tech positions would have been added district-wide. Another proposed increase would have added three social worker positions to work with Regular Instruction students.
Current revenue projections available through the MDOE indicate that the budget would result in an increase of $722,690 increase to the local tax assessments. Those projections are based off Gov. Paul LePage’s proposed budget.
While the budget validation vote failed, residents did approve a $318,000 bond issue for improvements to district schools. A total of 1,540 residents supported the bond, while 1,455 opposed it.
Preliminary town-by-town results for the bond issue vote:
Weld – 36 yes and 50 no (additionally, 1 yes from Perkins Twp and 2 no)
Temple – 72 yes and 70 no
Chesterville – 74 yes and 161 no
Starks – 84 yes and 19 no
Industry – 71 yes and 83 no
Farmington – 663 yes and 458 no
New Vineyard – 46 yes and 94 no
New Sharon – 126 yes and 216 no
Vienna – 65 yes and 54 no
Wilton – 303 yes and 250 no
More details on the specific projects to be targeted by the bond can be found here. Estimating a 3.5 percent interest rate and a 10-year lifespan, the $317,834 bond would cost $38,217 a year for 10 years. The first payment would be part of the 2018-19 budget, not the incoming 2017-18 fiscal year. The timing of the bond would have the first payment due the year after the last payment on the Academy Hill School gymnasium and heating improvements, which costs the district $29,104 each year.
Mike if the student doesn’t live in our district and attends our school the school isn’t responsible for any special Ed services. They have to live in the district . Also it’s hard to get your child a one on one staff. I had to fight tooth and nail for my child to get one for 7. 5 hours a week. I had the opportunity to put my special needs child that has a one on one staff at Mallett and refused because it’s to much kaos up there . I didn’t flock and I live in the district. It may sound like these kids are all behavioral but some are born with other issues that are not from bad parenting as some of you are suggesting. I think maybe you all should stop pointing fingers at why our school is going down the tubes and look back at how they use to run our schools when supplies were low we shared or just went without and used our common sense. How about some good old fashion chalk and chalkboard?
Yes, I’m a homeowner and my taxes have gone up hundreds of dollars and have never had a child attend this district YET since we purchased this home in 2010.
Buckshot: Good questions, some background: I am from a small town in Pennsylvania, with a large high school. We had many of the same options as students do here: strong academics, music, art, world languages, a tech center on the same campus. My siblings and I went to five different colleges, and have four BS degrees, and three Masters degrees between us. We were the first to go to college in our family, and our parents supported the need to get as much education as we could.
I met my wife in Central, Park, New York, while I was working in Brooklyn, NY shortly after college. We found we had a bit in common, and were married about three years later, in a small historic canal village in northern NJ.
We have lived and worked in three states since being married, so our children have a fairly current view on how mobile the modern workforce is. We have been living and working in Maine, since the winter of 1997. Our children attended schools in New York, Vermont and Maine, and currently work in Boston, New York City, and Detroit Michigan.
As our parents before us, my wife and I believe strongly in public education, and the need to learn how to learn in order to have a chance in our modern, global economy. Our children believe the same, and have demonstrated they will work for what they believe in. We hope they will return to Maine someday, but we are planning to spend time with them wherever they are.
We believe education can support a better future for anyone who believes and commits themselves to learning and doing. Is education expensive? Yes, at all levels. Is it worth it? Yes. Is education an investment in our own future, and the future of our families and communities? Absolutely.
I am now beginning my 37th year of work after college. I believe a good education is available here, and will support rebuilding our local economy. Not all of our kids will stay and work in Maine. However, the modern world is full of families such as ours that will travel to new areas for work, if the conditions are right. We settled in Wilton because of the schools, and are doing our part to keep them strong.
I voted yes with a lot of my friends. None of our families make 70,000 or close to it. We value education and feel fortunate that we live in a community that provides these services.
Mom of Children in Different schools.
I against the school budget for my own reasons, but am appauled about everything you said about poverty stricken families, bad parents etc. So much judgement! WOW!
Craig, Thank you for trying to change how the school system spends it’s money.
To everyone else, it saddens me that this comes down to an argument of ” are you for the kids and education or just a mean person who doesn’t care about kids as much as you do your taxes “.
Please consider that some people oppose the budget because they care about the kids too. They don’t like the way the district spends it’s money. The other side of the coin is that some of the yes voters feel that if they don’t support the budget, either something that is important to their child will be cut (my soft spot is the music program), or that it seem like they don’t care about the kids.
I am at a loss about the people who are blaming disabled children for this…i’m shaking my head about that.
Bottom line for me is STOP fighting about it and try to be flexible and communicate your point without vilifying the other side. Maybe it’s even time to toss out the previous years budgets and start fresh. Maybe the budget committee and the Board would be able to make changes that would compromise enough for everyone.
Peace and love my fellow RSU9’ers!
JFK gets it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-Xj0lVS7WI
IT TAKES A SCHOOL TO BANKRUPT A VILLAGE !!!
It’s incredibly short-sighted to refuse to adequately fund education. Lack of support for children’s future, poor schools, decreasing business and employment opportunities, ever-expanding growth of low-paying, dead-end jobs as opposed to good-paying jobs with some possibility for growth has been happening in western Maine for a long time. This won’t help.