Scarborough voters will go to the polls Tuesday to vote for a second time on a school budget that has been reduced by $236,000 from the initial proposal.
The revised $47.2 million school budget proposal is $1.3 million, or 2.9 percent higher, than the fiscal 2016-2017 school budget. Voters rejected the $47.4 million school budget on June 13 – an action that by state law requires a second school budget validation vote.
“The first vote on the school budget was a resounding rebuke by the voters,” Scarborough Town Manager Thomas Hall wrote in a letter to the community posted on the town’s website. “The voters have spoken very clearly and as town leaders we need to listen or we are likely to repeat the same mistake again.”
Hall said that while a budget that is 2.9 percent higher than last year’s might seem like a lot, it is reasonable given the fact that nearly 75 percent of school spending goes toward teacher, staff, and administrator salaries and benefits.
“Although it is tempting, it is simply not realistic or prudent to believe that significant additional reductions in school spending can be made in the near term without having a direct impact in the classroom,” Hall wrote.
Polls will be open Tuesday at Scarborough Town Hall from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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