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03/11/09
School Board adopts revised $20.2 million budget proposal for 2009-10
The School Board on March 10 adopted a $20.2 million school spending proposal for next fiscal year, 1.93 percent over this year's budget, and posing a .77 percent increase in property taxes for school services.
The budget, revised earlier this month in light of anticipated restored state revenue and various savings, was recommended by the board's finance committee after hours of meetings and deliberation by the board and school administrators during the last month. The budget will be presented to the Town Council for consideration later this month, along with a proposed municipal budget that poses a .58 percent decrease in taxes.
Taken together, proposed budgets for town, school, county and Community Services are posing no increase in property taxes for next year. (Click here to download budget summary and tax impact)
The school budget, called by some School Board members as a compromise March 10, was approved by a 6-1 vote.
The vote came after members of the public, who also work at the schools, spoke against eliminating some support staff positions at the Pond Cove and Middle Schools.
"Every part of that (budget) does have a person attached to it," said board member Linda Winker. "So it is very difficult for me as well to make that separation between the people business that we're in, and the bottom line dollar amount that we need to reach," she said.
The original budget proposed to the board by Superintendent Alan Hawkins in February eliminated a full-time regular educational technician, and a half-time library ed tech, from the Middle School staff. The revised budget, submitted to the board earlier this month, redirected some funding toward technology support - adding ed techs for technology integration but cutting three ed tech positions from the Pond Cove budget.
Chris Bulsa-O'Meara, a Cape Elizabeth resident and instructor in the Pond Cove Media Center, told the board how the ed techs serve media center patrons while she is instructing classes on library use and skills. "I think cutting the ed tech in the media center will affect my ability to make my position a teaching position," she said. "If you take away that teaching and that support, it's going to have a trickle-down effect that you probably won't see right away," she said.
Two other Cape residents who work at the Middle School, Spanish Teacher Susan Dana and school nurse Julie Tselikis, supported the ed tech position at their school. "She is part of the glue that holds us together," Tselikis said. In addition to clerical duties, ed techs cover classes for short periods when teachers are called away, and in the case of the Middle School, arranges for substitute teachers. "I assure you that if you don't have ed techs to help you next year, you will be needing many more substitutes," Tselikis said.
Hawkins said the amended budget, prepared following news that a state curtailment on general purpose aid to education would not be made this year or next, also took into account anticipated savings in fuel and health insurance costs. Of the $183,500 in anticipated savings, $168,755 is being used to fund staff realignments, including the added ed techs for technology integration. Technology, Hawkins said, emerged as an important goal of the School Board for this year, and ties in with other goals for better use of student learning data toward developing curriculum, instruction and assessment.
"I would like to do all things for all people at all times, but unfortunately I can't do that with the money we have unless I do have some staffing cuts," Hawkins said at the board meeting.
The rest of the savings, as well as $421,000 in general purpose aid the School Department plans to recoup once the curtailment is lifted, will be used to reduce the amount of the budget to come from property taxes.
Hawkins added that the 2009-10 budget ushers in a new era in the way the School Department will approach its budget. "Next year we will look at every component of our budget, from the superintendent to every person in the system, and look at what is the positive effect on learning of every person in the system," he said.
Other board members said they believed the budget, though sacrificial in some areas, moves the schools forward. Trish Brigham, board chairman, commented on a quote from former General Electric chief executive Jack Welch, who said that this is a time to stand up and do something about our country, not to be 'hunkered down under a rock, sucking our thumbs.'
"I think this budget prevents us from sucking our thumbs, and maybe pushes our toe out from under the rock," Brigham said. "Investing in our schools is one way to start to move forward,"she said.
More information, including schedules for Town Council deliberations and public hearings, is available on this Web site.
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