On Thursday August 3, voters in the towns of Mt Blue RSD9 will be asked to approve the 2017-18 School operating budget.
It is worthy of support and I intend to vote for it. I hope that residents of Wilton, whom I represent on the School Board, will follow my lead.
For the second year in a row, the assessment to the Town of Wilton will be reduced, this time by $51,941. This means real relief for property taxpayers.
In asking for support, it is important to state that we (the Board) heard voters clearly when the initial budget referendum was rejected in June. Since that time, there have been these developments:
1. The Board reduced the Budget by $344,364 in response to the “no” vote;
2. The Legislature, in its closing days, increased general purpose aid to education that provided additional state revenue of $729,954 to Mt Blue RSD 9.
3. At its July 20 meeting, the Board applied $353,195 of this revenue directly to the reduction of town assessments. Further, we reduced, by nearly half, the money that voters have authorized for capital improvement throughout the district by applying $165,431 to these projects.
4. We restored the critically important position of Student Services Coordinator at the Foster Tech Center to full-time status and strengthened the High School guidance department by assuring that there will be three full-time counselors.
5. Finally, we responded to the need for behavioral support at the elementary and middle school levels by providing two full-time social workers for the general education population.
The struggle to provide quality education without undue strain on property taxpayers will continue into the coming year. It is critical that the Legislature holds to its legal commitment to fund general purpose aid to education at 55 percent and that it meets the commitment it made to provide $114 million in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
It is also critical that the Board, staff and families of Mt Blue RSD 9 continue their commitments, both to education and to fiscal responsibility.
This budget is a step in that direction and is worthy of support.
Irving Faunce
Wilton
Thank you for your helpful review.
On a recent outing in Maine I saw this sign on someones lawn and thought it so simple and so wise:
“Drive and Vote
like your children live here”
If the board cut the budget by $353,195. Why is it higher than the budget that was voted down by the taxpayers? You can move numbers around all you want and it is still to high. The level of education our kids get has NOTHING to do with this number. All this does is employ more people to do what should already be done. Instead of social workers for kids who act out perhaps these students should learn what detention is !!!! We use a FREE math curriculum called common core, that isn’t even suitable to be called math. I understand it tries to make kids think differently about solving an equation, but when parents cant help because they don’t understand it it’s hard to help your kid with homework. When we start paying for better curriculums then my family and I will start voting yes… Until this bloated budget gets under control and the money actually benefits the students not the administration we will continue to vote NO !!!!! See you at the polls ….
Welfare and education costs consume over 80 percent of all Maines taxpayer monies. Maines infracstructure, business development and our quality of life is the big loser in this model. Welfare and the schools have become a business in disgusta. The liberals pushing this ill thought plan are all too willing to sacrifice our elderly homeowners, small businesses, and young working people for their own profit. How many more times do we have to discuss school consolidation before we just do it to cut costs? How many more failed social programs do we have to support before we realize the takers in our society are working against the majority of our community that is just trying to get by? Do drug addicts and somalie welfare surfers suddenly deserve all our assets because liberals in disgusta want to garner votes with free services? This is how you wind up with pols like pingreedy and old wind king. They run with the support of welfare nation. Rea working Mainers pay for their free ride. It past time when common sense Mainers take back our state from the spendocrats that are determined to destroy our every shrinking middle class.
I have no idea why taxpayers would support this budget. UP over a million over last year. This is like huge snowball going down hill. IF we had twenty children left in our schools the budget wouid be the the same. The key is to get out and vote. Thanks Ross
I think the letter lists the reason to support this budget. RSU 9 has been frugal in recent years, painfully cutting things like the library budget (less than 40% of what it was in 2009), world languages, and not adding needed positions. The good news is that for the second year in a row there is no tax increase due to the budget, and next year things look even better.
So why have the budgets gone up? There are many federal mandates for programs like special education. This has pushed up spending in recent years, and the district has no choice but to spend the money (or be out of compliance with the law, which would end up even more expensive). That’s one reason why the state has been pushed to contribute more, to protect property owners from these higher mandated costs. Moreover, this budget also reduces the voter approved bond – showing again concern for fiscal stability.
If the budget is voted down, and more cuts have to be made, they’ll hurt the students and our quality of education. I’m hopeful that we can work out a better way to pay the mandated costs that have driven up the budget – I know that’s a goal of the Superintendent here and really all over — it’s not just us having to deal with these budget issues.
I hope rather than having a knee jerk reaction people think about the fact that for the second year in a row the school will not cause tax increases, that we still spend less per pupil than most districts in the state and region, and our district salaries are well below average. There are many needs (and even more wants) the school board had to reject in order to avoid tax increases.
Costs mandated by the US government for special education are REIMBURSED by the US Government.. The RSU9 budget is a runaway train. The budget has gone up by 10 million in the last 8 years.
Why we need more social workers, whatever they do, is beyond me.
Although Dr Erb sounds like he is a member of the RSU9 administration, he is actually on the RSU9 Board. I believe that impression needs to be cleard up.
Oddly enough, with the board members required to represent their town’s residency (those who put them in office) there is a strange disconnect . Towns that voted a majority of NO they were not always reflected by votes by their townsr representatives in RSU9 . Strange !!!
To encourage a bit of thrift in the school operation Please vote NO on the budget August 3rd.
UNTIL we get better curriculum in place, in order to better educate our youth so they are able to succeed in chosen occupations, to gain admittance into colleges, and feel confident and proud of their schooling, I will be voting “no”. UNTIL I see a budget that will be markedly aimed at improving the kids education, I will be voting “NO”. UNTIL I see a much lower figure than $1.18 million which is the proposed increase in the RSU9 budget, I will be voting ‘NO”. UNTIL they realize that they are asking beyond the communities ability to pay, I WILL BE VOTING “NO.”
It is absolutely false that the budget for RSU 9 is a “runaway train.” That is absurd. Seeing first hand the struggles the schools are engaged in, the cuts to the library and world languages, losing teachers to nearby districts who pay better. We spend less per pupil than most in the state, less than others in our area. Moreover, Bill is completely wrong in saying that the federal government reimburses all the special ed costs we have to pay.
School board members are not supposed to blindly represent popular opinion in their towns – the rules are clear that they are to use their judgment and do what is best for the district and community. Unfortunately many people have the false impression that some of the commentators here have, that the budget is out of control, or that the curriculum isn’t working. Having toured the schools and listened to the issues they face – lack of funds being a big one as budgets have continually been frozen or cut, I’m saddened that so many people seem to be using the schools as a punching bag for their ideological concerns. The only ones who will suffer are the kids who will find funding cut for important programs, or class sizes increased if positions are lost.
Again: we spend less per pupil, we’ve made significant cuts, our salaries are below average for the region and state, and there is no tax increase in this budget, as there was no tax increase last year. A lot of the claims being made about district spending are simply false.
So let’s see if I have this correct,the state sent our district some $700,000,the board put $350,000 of that money towards tax relief,they then used the rest and more to put the budget number higher than the one we voted against earlier.I used some old outdated math for these figures but it still doesn’t add up to a “frugal” budget.Let’s use some common sense and vote it down.
Costs for everything are a runaway train. We don’t get to vote on groceries, utilities, gasoline, insurances, user fees, all the other things that everyone uses in life.
So naturally when people see the sheer amount of the budget it is a mark against it. Coupled with some of the end products we see, it will be a battle year after year.
As the old saying goes, it’s the same people, “complaining if they were hung with a new rope.” Making up alternate facts and throwing out generalizations is growing very old. The “yes” voters will be out in droves. See you at the polls…
It just amazes me to think that the board thinks this budget is ok. I think being “fiscally responsible ” would be a no vote…period. Towns can’t handle the tax burden anymore
@ Scott Erb
Please look up the definition of frugal ! You may learn something.
@ mr erb and some are never satisfied. How is it alternative facts or frugal to say that a budget that was lower than this one now is better ? The last budget was in FACT lower and voted down just because the state sent us money for the budget doesnt mean ADD IT TO THE BOTTOM LINE !!!! FRUGAL I think not !!! Buckshot nailed it until our kids education is in FACT IMPROVED My family will vote NO !!!! So go ahead yes voters go in droves as you say cuz your not the only ones spreading the word we too have social media and COMMON SENSE !!!
Thank you Director Faunce for the excellent letter, summarizing the changes which took place during the last several board meetings. These changes support taxpayers and students.
I will be voting yes on the budget tomorrow.
Since for the second year in a row this is NOT increasing taxes, I’m not sure why people are saying towns can’t handle the tax burden. The proof that this is frugal is: a) compared to most other districts we spend quite a bit less per pupil, including those nearby; b) our salaries are well below average; c) we’ve not added a lot of programs or people, indeed there have been sad cuts to world languages, th e libraries, and staff. Yes there have been spending requirements that have pushed the budget up – sometimes unexpectedly. There is of course inflation. But again, compare to districts and you see the same thing all over, at the core our schools have been getting by with inadequate funds, but somehow finding a way to work – I think the dedication of our teachers and administrators who often work exceedingly long hours in a sometimes thankless task.
I fear people see the budget number being higher, assume that there is just a lot of excess spending, and often tie that to an anti-tax ideology. I don’t think many people really dig into the numbers, I hear very little in the way of suggestions of actual cuts.
If the no vote prevails, painful cuts will be made. But that will be the will of the people. If the yes vote wins, I know that I will take very seriously the need to put property tax relief as a priority going forward, along with adequate funding for the schools. It’s a balancing act, with no clear right or wrong. I also believe that people on both sides have good will (this isn’t good vs. evil) and that the “no” side is doing the community a service by forcing us to consider how we fund our schools and what we spend money on. It’s all good. However the vote turns out, taxes won’t go up (due to the school), life will go on, and hopefully we’ll not hold grudges against “the other side.”
Seeing many property tax concerns listed above, a review of recent history reveals the following: While significant property tax increases happened 3, 4 and 5 years ago, last year saw a major tax decrease, and this year sees a small property tax increase across the district.
Last year the districtwide assessments went down by about $278,000, that is down by about 2.1%
This years budget has come in with about a $25,000 property tax increase, after deciding to use $168,000 to expense necessary work, rather than incurring more debt for future budgets. This approximately $25,000 represents about a .2% increase.
Looking at the last two years, our overall tax assessment has gone down by about 1.9%.
This 1.9% decrease across the district for a two year time period, may be followed next year by another decrease.
How could anyone say such a thing?
This years approved state budget put additional funding for education high on the list for priorities, and added in a significant increase for funding for schools for this year and for next year.
Our legislators also supported an increase in the Homestead Exemption, once again helping support property owners.
Let us thank our legislators, and those who worked to get question 2 approved, showing a majority of Maine voters support higher State funding for Maine schools. Our legislators wanted to help both property owners, and our schools, and did.
Thank you again, Director Faunce!
Same old stuff being said, nothing new. PLEASE explain to everyone how the additional $1.18 million increase to the present budget will be funded next year. Please explain how the $33.9 million budget will be funded. Can anyone predict how much next year’s increase will be to the school budget? Finally, what happens to the property tax in 2019-2020?
Mr. Erb – “Since for the second year in a row this is NOT increasing taxes, I’m not sure why people are saying towns can’t handle the tax burden.” Because they couldn’t handle the tax burden LAST year, EITHER! NOW do you understand? It’s about AFFORDABILITY!
“School board members are not supposed to blindly represent popular opinion in their towns – the rules are clear that they are to use their judgment and do what is best for the district and community?”
If any members of the School Board aren’t responsive to the will of the people, I assume they could be replaced by others that are.
Remember the movie “What about Bob?”? “I NEED! I NEED!” TaxPAYERS need things, too!