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RSU 9 board discusses budget proposals

11 mins read

FARMINGTON – Regional School Unit 9 directors discussed $38.4 million in proposed expenditures, additional supports for students when they return to in-class instruction and revenue sources at Tuesday evening’s board meeting, conducted via videoconferencing.

The board utilizes a budget committee of seven directors who attend full-day presentations on proposed expenditures and revenue figures, prior to its presentation to the entire board. Directors on that committee this year include Chair Cherieann Harrison of Wilton and Directors Carol Cole of Starks, Kirk Doyle of Farmington, Jeff Harris of New Sharon, J. Wayne Kinney of Farmington, Angela LeClair of Wilton and Dennis O’Neil of Farmington.

The budget presented at Tuesday’s meeting included $38,477,311 in general fund expenditures, an increase of $1.35 million over the current fiscal year or 3.64 percent.

Approximately 66.1 percent of the K-12 budget would be paid for via the district’s General Purpose Aid, funds provided by the state. As is the case in previous years, state subsidy is up through a combination of increases in enrollment – Superintendent Tina Meserve said that the district had gained 141 students in the past three years – as well as changes at the state level, such as additional funding for system administration and career and technical education through the Foster Career and Technical Center. The district also will begin seeing the benefit of participating in a regional service center.

As presented, the proposed budget would utilize $20.3 million in state funding and $10.4 million in locally-assessed funds required to garner that full state contribution. Beyond this Essential Programs & Services funding, established through a state formula, is the additional local allocation which covers a variety of programs either not covered by the state, such as athletic positions and after school programs, or adds additional money, such as adding teaching positions and subsequently reducing class size. The additional local allocation is up $189,741 in the proposed budget, although that is somewhat offset by a $138,010 decrease in the required local allocation.

In response to a question from a board member, Meserve said that the district did anticipate having funds left over at the end of the fiscal year, due to the schools being closed to in-classroom instruction and the district’s budget freeze, of between $2 and $2.5 million. Those funds could be spent only after the auditor reviewed the district’s finances and reports to the state in December 2020. The money could then be used by the district to help pay for the 2021-22 budget or potentially be used to absorb a curtailment, should the state withhold funding due to revenue losses associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposed budget does include $500,000 in balance forward revenue, the same as the previous year.

Per the district’s revenue figures, the impact of the K-12 budget on local tax assessments would be an increase of 0.25 percent or $33,372. That increase would rise to .45 percent, or $61,395, when Adult Education expenditures are added into the budget. The projected change would lead to decreases in three town’s assessments and increases in the other seven. Specifically, Chesterville would see a decrease of $25,386 or 2.39 percent; Farmington would see a decrease of $70,221 or 1.46 percent; Industry would see a decrease of $24,597 or 2.64 percent; New Sharon would see an increase of $22,044 or 2.11 percent; New Vineyard would see an increase of $26,856 or 3.51 percent; Starks would see an increase of $33,095 or 6.88 percent; Temple would see an increase of $4,228 or .98 percent; Vienna would see an increase of $15,593 or 2.13 percent; Weld would see a decrease of $16,959 or 3.42 percent; and Wilton would see an increase of $47,548 or 1.72 percent.

Historically, over a five year period, the local assessment associated with the K-12 school budget has increased an average of .55 percent annually, counting the proposed budget. Local assessments went down 2 percent in FY17 and FY18, then up 6.25 percent in FY19, up .27 percent in FY20 (the current fiscal year, set during last year’s budget process) and up .25 percent in the proposed FY21 budget.

Increases in the budget include raises for salaries employees – the school board previously approved increases to support staff and administrator pay and is currently negotiating with teachers – as well as moving another teacher out of federal classroom reduction grant and into the budget and moving an English Language Learning teacher from part- to full-time and $24,000 for school supplies. The budget also includes $110,000 to move six ed tech positions currently working 5.5 hours to full-time, which would extend benefits to those positions. Directors on the budget committee and Meserve said that was designed to try and retain employees.

“We can’t keep these positions filled,” Director LeClair said. “People come here, get trained and go to a different district for a little more wage or benefits.”

Special Education would see a nearly $400,000 increase, or 6.5 percent, due to additional personnel. The budget also includes $60,000 for an assistant superintendent position, with a third of that cost mitigated through an associated reduction in Curriculum Coordinator funding. Other increases include the second step of the summer salary accrual plan, $80,000, additional funding for nurses, the Extended Year Program, student assessments, the local share of the cost of two buses through the Volkswagon emissions settlement, or $78,000, among other expenses.

The budget also includes facility improvements ranging from replacing exterior doors that are rusting, installing additional cameras in some buildings, Americans with Disabilities Act upgrades at the Academy Hill School and Cascade Brook School, replacement equipment including a kitchen steamer at Cape Cod Hill School, an environmental control system at Mt. Blue Middle School, desks and tables designed to accommodate additional students at MBMS, among other items.

Foster Tech’s budget is up nearly $400,000 for a variety of new programs, including criminal justice, an emergency medical technician class and an electrician satellite program. All of that increase is being covered by the state; due to changes in the funding for vocational programming, that money is now separated from general purpose aid funding and can only be spent of Foster Tech.

The Adult Education budget is proposed to go to $465,972; the local allocation would increase by $28,025 to $209,717.

Directors discussed several elements of the budget Tuesday evening, eventually moving to continue deliberations at their next scheduled meeting in two weeks.

Some directors spoke to the importance of adding a position to address drug and alcohol issues at MBHS, a $80,000 licensed counselor that did not make the proposed budget after the committee process. Director Irving Faunce said that addressing that issue was important, particularly given the extra months students had spent away from school supports.

“We’re in a place we’ve never been before,” Faunce said. “Particularly in education.”

Meserve said that expenditure had been considered but that with additional Title 4 funding anticipated in relation to COVID-19 pandemic relief, funds to support students with substance abuse issues could be made available.

Another item not in the budget that directors spoke in favor of was funding for the Success & Innovation Center. The center provides a place for students to come to get help on projects, help accessing resources for specific problems or help coping with day-to-day life. The center is staffed by a teacher and an ed tech and has been funded by a GEAR Up grant for three years, ending this year.

Director Craig Stickney of Chesterville said that he wanted to see that $110,000 program placed in the budget, as he had heard positive things about the SIC’s impact. He suggested removing the assistant superintendent position and pushing more district expenses into grant funding to encompass the increase. That latter move was cited as a possibility by Meserve earlier in the meeting, as restrictions on federal Title money are being relaxed due to the pandemic. That would allow for the possibility of keeping an extra teaching position and/or some technology funding in the Title money, rather than paying for it as part of the EPS or above-EPS funding.

Additional federal revenue may be available, equaling 80 percent of the district’s Title 1 funding or roughly $600,000, but Meserve noted that receipt of that funding wasn’t certain.

Information about the budget committee’s presentations and deliberations can be found here, including video from the meetings.

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54 Comments

  1. how could you possibly ask the tax payers for an additional 1.35 million? The governor may close the schools again next year, if they even open, because of “another wave”. there must be significant savings from closing the schools down this year in March. Taxes for next year should be going down, not up. VOTE NO!!!

  2. Budget increase at this time when people are out of work, down turn in the economy? There should be a decrease instead. There must have unused funds because of the shutdown, i.e. buses not running, etc. This shows that the board and school system are out of touch with reality.

  3. Historically during tough financial times the State Legislature has either cut or “flat funded” education funding. I believe the next State budget will include cuts to both education and local revenue sharing, thus affecting both our school budgets and local municipalities.
    These are serious times for our elected officials when making decisions on budgets and raising taxes to fund them.
    As a County Commissioner, preparing to review the next County budget, I intend to review all County spending, and work with the other Commissioners to continue to streamline spending and reassess how every tax dollar is spent at the County level.
    My experience in politics tells me that State spending won’t be cut enough to continue current State funding for our schools and local towns.
    Hopefully our school board members and town officials are taking this crisis seriously.
    The above article doesn’t seem to recognize the seriousness of our current and future financial situation.
    Massive increases in property taxes won’t sit well with most voters, many who are suffering from this pandemic, unemployed and already facing property taxes that are much higher than many can afford.

  4. Another indication that the administration is clearly disconnected from any sort of reality. A sharp decrease in spending on all fronts is needed and obvious.

  5. Just this week the Bangor Daily News published an article where state projections will be off by the end of the fiscal year by 1 BILLION dollars. That is near 25% of the annual budget. There will certainly be some Federal relief but it will not cover losses going forward. Even with the Obama stimulus in 2009 the State of Maine still had a shortfall of 500 million of the Biannual Budget. This meant that there were cuts to education and revenue sharing. This time it will likely be bigger and I suspect longer. I know that currently many school districts are preparing for a curtailment they suspect is coming why in the world isn’t SAD?

  6. Quoted from the article: “Historically, over a five year period, the local assessment associated with the K-12 school budget has increased an average of .55 percent annually, counting the proposed budget. Local assessments went down 2 percent in FY17 and FY18, then up 6.25 percent in FY19, up .27 percent in FY20 (the current fiscal year, set during last year’s budget process) and up .25 percent in the proposed FY21 budget.”

    Those arguing the school board is just wantonly increasing the budget’s local impact year after year are willfully ignoring the facts. It makes a big splash to say “School board increases budget by $1.35 million!”, but when you look at what’s actually happening to town assessments, it just doesn’t match up.

  7. Given the current economic situation, we do not need to increase the school budget. No new programs!

  8. In the private sector there is an old expression that comes to mind — now what was it — oh yes. “More with less”.

    When revenues are down, you have to learn how to do more with less. It is astounding, it boggles the mind that the school board and administration are talking about clicking off another now-routine one million + dollar increase in expenses and adds to staff in the face of declining tax revenue in the state and tens of thousands of families facing economic hardship that no one ever dreamed of. Adds to staff in today’s economic enviroment? Are you kidding? It is simply astounding and tone deaf.

    There is also a deafening silence about the issue of a budget surplus from this year’s operations. How can the physical plant shut down, buses stop running and there not be a significant budget surplus.

  9. I live in New Vineyard, a town with a population in 2018 of less than 800 people. I don’t live on the lake. My property tax bill this past year was north of $5,500 with more than 50% of that going to RSU 9. All the while our small town struggles to make ends meet. You’ve all seen main street and another road with conditions so horrible it was stripped of its pavement and yet our evaluations increase? Then the school budget dumps onto us like a ton of bricks and continues year after year adding more and more. Off to an egregious start.

  10. Hay simply Unbelievable come north and join sad58 we could definitely use more kids to increase our enrollment numbers. Wish New Portland would join us also instead of just a bunch of superintendents agreements for their kids.

  11. Time to replace the entire schoolboard. Time for a taxpayer revolt against these out of touch,tone deaf members

  12. I think it is time for the people to stand up against this taxation. Remove Public funded schools. Make it a “rate payer “ system. They provide what they can afford. If not homeschool your children. Key word on the word “your”.

    Time to go back to our roots with raising our kids, and not making more socialist programs like public school.

  13. If only the NECEC meetings in Farmington had coincided with their school budget meetings, perhaps Farmington wouldn’t have been so quick to reject free money!

  14. I watched the school board meeting of last Tuesday night. Mr. Stickney felt strongly about keeping the SIC program as it directly helped all students. What wasn’t mentioned in this article is he also stated the PALS program never was implemented as sold to the public. He stated the board has not received any information from the administrators as numbers of students, students being helped and success rate. Not one person replied to him that he was wrong so I will suggest he was right. As I remember, we raised a million dollars over two years for this program. As I see it, we can eliminate staffing for this program up to 500,000 dollars. Remove one administrator at the high school, and not fund the assistant superintendent position. The cost of keeping the SIC program would be zero and we also save another 4 to 500,000 dollars. This would leave enough money for raises, and put the support of the students first, instead of positions and salaries.

  15. This budget has been presented by the superintendent and the budget committee. The board has not approved this budget to go to the voters. As a voter, I would definitely reject it. If anyone on the board is looking at these posts, they need to know that they need to do better than this. Outrageous!

  16. Yikes! Another increase in the budget? In this economy? This is getting ridiculous. It’s likely schools won’t reopen in the fall anyway if the Blueberry Festival is cancelled just a few weekends before…and that’s outside :/

  17. Tina and the school board need to go, with exception to the board members from Industry and Chesterville. Beyond Ridiculous, increasing the budget again and again and now with covid bye bye

  18. To Hey Why Now someone has to do her dirty work. Like read through every employee’s timecard and account them for every minute for her precious budget.

  19. Since Tina has taken over I have not seen anything good out of RSU9. She is the most disconnected superintendent ever. She cares more about her office and Scrutinizing staff over little things. Unlike Tom ward who generally cared about RSU9 community you never see her at any public events at the school. Why does she need an assistant while daily teachers work there fingers to the bone. What a joke

  20. I have lived in Farmington for about 13 years. Every year there is outrage about the proposed school budget and calls for a tax payer revolt. Then, just as predictable, the school budget passes and the “revolt” never occurs.
    Ground hog day – Farmington style. Guess it’s just a cherished tradition-

  21. Which 3 towns will see decreases? The Asst. Supt. position has been tried in the district at least 3 times and each time the position was eliminated mainly because the board awakened to the fact that it was an unnecessary position, not much really to do with full-time principalsin each school, a curriculum coordinator,maintenance, transportation, lunch program, ad. ed., vocational,athletics all with supervisors, and spec. ed.directors in place. It does serve to fatten up someone’s paycheck with the reason being “to fill in for the supt. if needed.” Are there any things that happened or didn’t happen because an asst. supt. wasn’t on board? Why all of a sudden the need? Didn’t the school district operate just fine without one? It is difficult each time the position is eliminated and a person is out of a job.. So many good comments here from all concerned, and at a time like no other we have experienced. Freezes in salaries and hiring are already showing in schools. One Maine Superintendent voluntarily taking a salary cut!!! What a guy. Anyway, looks like maybe the signs will be out again along the roadsides, AND what will they read this time?

  22. Why does the administration budget go up every single year with more office positio s added? Why do we need an Assistant Superentendant? If they want more front line people cut administrators.

  23. The budget will pass because the teachers are allowed to vote on their own salaries and they will stack the vote with all their families and friends. It is almost guaranteed to fail on the first round, but be revised with a few minor cuts, and then pass overwhelmingly when the faculty starts recruiting their buddies to vote. I would suggest that if the superintendent needs an assistant, that she sacrifice part of her salary towards that position. We are also being told how hard this coronavirus has been on the students. Agreed, but they are young and have many years ahead of them to get over it. But apparently there is no compassion for the over 60 aged population that has paid their dues already and have limited years ahead. They deserve consideration during this time as well and are trying to stay afloat with rising health costs, property taxes, food insecurity and unemployment at a time in their life that they were hoping to enjoy. I know that the responses will be “If you can’t afford your taxes, you shouldn’t own a house”. Give me a break, come up with something better than that. That’s just ignorant .

  24. Unlike normal business in this country which rises and falls with supply and demand our service industry never fails to want more,more ,more. The number of kids can drop,the number of people on fixed incomes can rise,we can lose half or more of our manufacturing,Verso blew up,our countrys economy shut down and went to h-ll. And I will bet you every employee from congress on down to the local school systems will still expect a raise and have nothing change in their own little worlds except another higher budget. Things are not OK. Its not just SAD 9 facing these problems. If everyone does not share the hurt we are headed for some serious problems next year.

  25. To Mr. Stickney and Jason

    The idea of wanting to hear more about a program in the district makes sense. What doesn’t make sense, unless I don’t know what board members do, is to fail to ask the program to present to the board. I’ve always assumed that it is up to each board member to ask to be informed of the content of various programs in order to fully access the value. If you were interested, Mr. Stickney, don’t you ask for a presentation? I don’t believe any old program or teacher can show up at a meeting and do a presentation. The times I’ve attended a board meeting it was to hear from a group (like the Lego team or Foster Tech.) because they were invited (and my nephew was there). It just seems weird to blame a group for not being there when you kinda control that don’t you? Oh, and hearing from a few people about any program doesn’t mean it’s great – or terrible. I know a parent who had a kid in behavior program and they thought it did great but they probably won’t come to talk about it because everybody would know their kid was in it. Most don’t want that to be known about.

  26. A general statement to all on this page.
    When considering whether our educators deserve raises, please understand that our whole school system has been turned upside down. Though many businesses have closed our school system is still operating. Administrators. teachers and staff members show up every morning to do their jobs. There is no rule book on how to teach and feed all the students that are now confined to their homes. These same folks have been forced to create whole new systems on how to get daily lessons and meals to students. This requires creative leadership, dedication, and at times risk to their own health, both physically and emotionally. I’ve heard teachers talk about how much they miss their kids. and worry about the ones who are struggling to keep up because they do not have that one on one contact that a real classroom provides. I’ve heard how the bus drivers who deliver meals to the far reaches of the district know where the needy kids live and their concern for their health is profound.
    We are lucky to have these folks teaching our kids under such challenging and dangerous times. Perhaps some of you could volunteer some morning to load buses with much-needed meals for the kids whose parents are struggling to feed them. It’s also quite enlightening to see teachers passing out the daily lessons to the thankful parents who have no internet service.
    Many think our educators should not get raises? I think they deserve combat pay

  27. I am a municipal employee and I will not be excepting any raise offered this year and will also do everything in my power to keep our budget expenses as low as possible with putting off any ” wants ” and strictly focusing on the “necessities ” to do my part on keeping our towns taxes as low as possible. Not all government employees are expecting raises, and I can tell you from wage and benefit surveys the town I work for is the lowest paid and least amount of benny’s offered in almost the whole state, definitely the lowest in our surrounding communities.

  28. I think everyone’s lives have been impacted or turned upside down. I was told by our government to stay put. Only go out when absolutely needed. Now someone says to be really helpful I should volunteer by going out and mingling, making deliveries.
    To raise a budget for something like a public school system right now is beyond wrong. Not too long ago it was a privilege to go to school. Now it has become much more than just a place for children to go and learn.
    Thirty eight million dollars, for one year. Good grief that is a lot of money. Many think we are not getting our monies worth. Many think if we spend more money it will be a better system.
    My opinion is there are some big financial changes coming in the next few years. A lot of institutions that depend on endless amounts of public funds are going to be disappointed.

  29. @ 6th gen mainer. Maybe you should pay more attention. The board is supposed to be updated on the program you speak of and Mr. Stickney said that in Tuesdays meeting. Also not all teachers and admin show up every morning since the China flu hit. They work remotely as the kids are unless they have to go into the school for some reason. Not all buses are running right now only a small portion are for delivery of meals. So yes there SHOULD be a good chunk of money left over this year. Maybe you and others should tune into the next board meeting the link for the zoom meeting is on our district website. Doubt I’ll see you there though!!!

  30. it is not the board,it is The super and the board chair that is in control . they shut down any board member or staff member that speaks out. The board needs to take control of the situation or they will not have any staff members or board members left. they need to take back the control. reach out and talk to people you will see the truth

  31. Anybody want to hazard a guess who has higher pay, teachers or combat soldiers? I’m sure most soldiers in combat would be glad to have a teachers job/pay.

  32. My ex husband made more as a Pepsi driver (not big rig) before he was activated with the ANG. He made more on a per diem basis than I did. When he was activated for September 11th we were in Bangor and I was at the beginning of my career and with all of his allowances, he made more than I did. He enlisted in the Army as an E5 when I was teaching in GA. He made more than I did before he deployed and way more than I did with the extra pay from his deployment. When we went to Hawaii he was an E6 and he still made more than I would have had I taught in HI.

  33. Over paid bureaucrats telling parents whats best for us and our kids…. what a joke . We need SCHOOLS , not architectural wonders built for baby sitting & medical services paid for by taxpayers.

  34. Ah, the typical response to what does not fit your narrative is, “Fake News”. What a surprise.

  35. I am glad that the superintendent acknowledges that there is an expected $2M to $2.5M expected surplus from this year’s budget. There are a few things that were not recognized with this proposed budget:

    1. State funding is likely to be less than anticipated because of significant reduction in sales taxes collected.
    2. Many people in Franklin County are out of work now, and many businesses will need years to recover from the expected loss in revenues this year, if they are even able to reopen.
    3. Businesses and property owners will not have financial resources to pay more in property taxes.

    My suggestions are:

    1. Remove new positions, especially new admin positions, from the budget.
    2. Freeze wages at 2019 – 2020 levels. Renegotiate the teachers contract to remove mandatory annual raises. The school system’s employees all still have jobs. Many community members are out of work now and some of them will not be able to get back to work. The school district should show support for the community, not be separate and above the community.
    3. The fuel contracts MUST be renegotiated. The budget for heating and bus fuel should be lower than they have been in the past 5 years, if not 10.

    We will not get as much money from the state as currently expected. We need to set the budget accordingly.

    I continue to support the school district. We need quality education for the children in our community; however, it is time our teachers and administrators make a budget that acknowledges the current situation and is lower than the current budget. Don’t plan on the surplus filling a gap from reduced State funding. Set a budget that expects this and use the surplus to lower the budget even more.

  36. My two cents worth;
    The budget should not increase this year. The assistant superintendent position should be cut. It’s already been voted down over and over.

    Taxpayers should have clear, straightforward answers about the PALS program. A lot of money was allocated for this program, and no one has been informed about how many students it served, how many went back to their classrooms, or how cost effective it has been.

    Schools are not socialist programs. Public education was created to give everyone an equal opportunity to an education. What’s wrong with that?

    Those “faculty” who get their “buddies” to vote are taxpayers just like you are. One vote for one person. That’s democracy. Nothing wrong with that either.

    RSU 9 schools are not overfunded. Some classrooms had 25 + students this year. Wilton schools have a half -time guidance position in each school. Grades 4 and 5 had no Title 1 support for students who needed help with math except from teachers trained in literacy. The Day Treatment Program(s) are full so that teachers are dealing with dysregulated students on a daily basis. Ed. techs. get paid poorly and don’t stay.Unfortunately though, our communities just can’t afford to do more than they are doing, especially this year.

    Finally, more than anything else, I wish people could be civil to each other, even when they disagree. Name calling and nasty comments don’t accomplish anything.

  37. Jo did your husband work any overtime to make that income? I bet and guarantee he did. Also most people don’t enlist at E5 rank they start at PRIVATE! Which pays enough to still draw welfare benefits. I have plenty of family members that are veterans as am I so get your facts straight before commenting. How can you compare being an educator to combat duty ? Get a grip on reality!!!

  38. Zooey: Finally a compassionate and reasonable response. Thank you!!

  39. Actions speak loader than words.
    MUST get out and vote NO to make this happen.
    So sad voting day to see only those employed and teachers
    come out to vote.
    Must get off your couch and do something. VOTE

  40. Momof2, I was not the one who initiated the comparison if you would look at what I was responding to. I pointed out that saying all teachers make more than all soldiers is not accurate. In my case my ex husband was an E5. I know lower ranks make less but if you stay in any length of time, you’ll get promotions and pay raises. Meaning that when I was mid career (of a career that requires a degree) and my ex husband was mid career (of a career that doesn’t require a degree) he made quite a bit more than I did. A more accurate comparison would be with officer pay (requires a degree). And the Pepsi rate ( again no degree required) was without overtime as Pepsi did not allow overtime. And I have uncles, cousins, and both parents who are veterans. Many of whom retired from the military. I am not saying that all teachers deserve to get paid more than all service members. I am saying that if you are going to make that comparison, which is not one that I would have made, you should make it looking at the pay tables and the allowance tables.

  41. Out of curiosity who voted in favor and against this proposed funding from the different towns?

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