Bleak fiscal future forces schools to make sacrifices at all levels
New fees are being added and employees are giving up raises, from bus drivers to top administrators.
By Kelley Bouchard kbouchard@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
School officials in Cumberland and North Yarmouth knew early on that the budget for the coming year would be a tough one.
Here’s a look at school budget plans for 2010-11 in the Portland area
CAPE ELIZABETH
School officials have proposed a $20 million budget that reduces staffing by two positions, increases student athletic and parking fees, and reduces salaries across the district by a total of $25,000.
CUMBERLAND, NORTH YARMOUTH
Voters will consider a $28 million school budget on June 8 that eliminates 19 jobs and includes a furlough day for teachers, no stipend for school board members and no pay raises for many others.
FALMOUTH
Voters will consider a $24.5 million school budget on June 8 that eliminates two teachers and three teacher aides, reduces staff development and includes new student fees for sports and extracurricular activities.
GORHAM
School officials have proposed a $30 million school budget that eliminates 15.5 positions, including 4.5 teachers and seven teacher aides.
PORTLAND
Voters have approved an $89.9 million school budget that eliminates 45 positions across the district, including 14.5 teaching jobs that required layoffs.
SCARBOROUGH
School officials have added $100,000 to a $34.9 million budget that voters rejected two weeks ago. Their goal was to preserve two of 31 jobs targeted for elimination and win public support when voters reconsider the budget on June 8.
SOUTH PORTLAND
Voters have approved a $41.1 million school budget for the coming year that eliminates 25 jobs (24 of them vacant) and the middle school football program.
WESTBROOK
Voters will consider a $33 million school budget on June 8 that eliminates no teaching positions, largely because administrative restructuring eliminated several high-paying jobs.
WINDHAM AND RAYMOND
Voters will consider a $37 million school budget on June 8 that eliminates 37 jobs, including 16 teachers and 17 teacher aides.
They started running the numbers for the 2010-11 budget last fall -- about four months ahead of schedule -- and offered more opportunities for public input in the review process than ever before.
Senior administrators, teacher aides, secretaries, janitors and bus drivers agreed to go without a raise in the budget year starting July 1. Teachers agreed to take a furlough day. School board members gave up their $600 stipend.
Still, when voters in SAD 51 go to the polls on June 8, they will be asked to approve a $28 million budget that eliminates 19 jobs, including teachers, aides and other support staff. And tax assessments for each town will go up about 5 percent.
School Board Chairman Dave Perkins said he hopes that voters will recognize the board's effort to minimize the impact of cuts on students.
"It's important that we come together as a community and support our school budget," Perkins said.
SAD 51 isn't alone. This spring, school districts across Maine are passing budgets that will eliminate 800 to 1,000 jobs in 2010-11, according to officials at the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Education Association.
The process is being repeated across the United States, as federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, which preserved many school jobs during the recession of the last two years, start running out.
The U.S. Department of Education estimates that 100,000 to 300,000 public school jobs are on the chopping block across the nation. Education Secretary Arne Duncan has mentioned these totals several times in recent days while promoting a $23 billion education jobs bill that's working its way through Congress.
The emergency legislation would provide $90 million to Maine schools in 2010-11, according to Mark Gray, executive director of the Maine Education Association. Gray was in Chicago on Tuesday, meeting with teachers' union leaders from across the country, who have mounted a lobbying effort to support the jobs bill.
The infusion of money would offset a $65 million reduction in state aid to Maine schools in the coming year, from $1 billion in 2009-10 to $937 million in 2010-11. A further reduction of $60 million in 2011-12 would reduce statewide education aid to an estimated $877 million and lead to widespread layoffs, education officials said.
Gray said the $90 million is critical to preserving the quality of Maine schools as the state seeks $20 million to $75 million in federal Race to the Top education reform funding. The latter will have little impact, he said, if Maine schools are forced to cut the teachers and programs that are on the line this spring and next.
Maine districts are already targeting jobs in core subjects such as English, mathematics and social studies, as well as world languages, vocational education and the arts, Gray said. Teachers will be laid off and vacancies will go unfilled. Class sizes will grow and smaller districts will turn to unvetted online classes.
"Maine has struggled to meet (educational goals set by) its Learning Results in good times," Gray said. "If the economy doesn't turn around, I think it's going to require increasingly difficult choices for school officials across the state."
Some Maine districts are making cuts in areas where staffing hasn't been reduced in keeping with falling enrollments. Portland voters approved an $89.9 million school budget for the coming year that cuts 45 positions, including several special education jobs that exceeded recommended staffing levels.
The statewide public school population has dropped from 250,000 students in the early 1970s to 189,000 students today, said David Connerty-Marin, spokesman for the Maine Department of Education.
At the same time, the number of public school employees grew through 2007-08 and now stands at 38,000, said Jim Rier, finance and operations director at the state department.
That means Maine schools have an average of one employee for every five students, and one teacher for every nine students -- the lowest teacher-student ratio in the nation, according to state education officials.
While Portland schools may have been overstaffed in some areas, it was understaffed in others, such as multilingual programs that serve immigrants who make up more than one-quarter of the 7,000 students in Maine's largest district. That's why Portland's budget calls for 8.5 additional multilingual teachers.
Portland Superintendent Jim Morse speaks for many school officials when he says he hopes that the federal education jobs bill passes and Maine schools get an additional $90 million in 2010-11.
"We desperately need that money," Morse said. "As it stands, we're expecting to lose another $4.2 million in state and federal funding in 2011-12, so we could really use it. But I'm not counting on anything until it arrives."
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
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57 COMMENTS
BonusEleven said...
Let the hangover begin!
May 31, 2010 at 12:32 AM Report abuse
jake007 said...
I still remember when the "Lottery" was being sold to us as the"answer" for the shortfall in education funds. All the earnings would be returned to the state to provide a boost to school districts! Then it was the power ball game or what ever new game was being promoted would be just the help that was needed to provide eutopia in Maine Soooooooooo, what happened??
May 31, 2010 at 1:51 AM Report abuse
crackhead said...
I have said this once and a thousand times. Democrats in Maine use education as an excuse to increase taxes. 40% of Maine kids don't complete HS. Throwing money at education never works.Bright kids who are raised correctly will succeed with a burlap bag and chalk.Bad kids will not succeed thats just the way it is. We throw 300 million away a year at education which is ranked around 40th in the nation. That makes alot of sense.
May 31, 2010 at 3:08 AM Report abuse
DP said...
Lincoln with the desire to learn did not need opulence to learn. Sad that some are losing jobs,but tough times deserve tough solutions.
May 31, 2010 at 6:04 AM Report abuse
mutt said...
Why did staff increase while student population decrease?
May 31, 2010 at 6:24 AM Report abuse
c2hpcG1hdGU%3D said...
Crackhead, You compared bright kids with bad kids. What is your definition of a "bad kid?" One that isn't bright or one not raised correctly by parents?
May 31, 2010 at 6:50 AM Report abuse
crackhead said...
One that isn't raised well.
May 31, 2010 at 7:05 AM Report abuse
MSH said...
I thought you were leaving us, crackedhead? See post on Bond thread....
May 31, 2010 at 7:15 AM Report abuse
crackhead said...
Hello my liberal friend,MSH. The library internet has opened early i see...
May 31, 2010 at 7:28 AM Report abuse
eWFyZGJpcmQ%3D said...
this means less fun and games and more hard work , that is the way it should be , that is how the tax money was earned to pay for it
May 31, 2010 at 7:46 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
"40% of Maine kids don't complete HS." I see cracked head is making up figures and pulling them out of his you know what again!!!!I think cracked=common They have same "just pull figures out of thin air and declare then as "fact"" routine.
May 31, 2010 at 7:49 AM Report abuse
crackhead said...
Perhaps Henry Elm should join MSH on the Obama campaign. henry can be the new Welfare appropriations czar.
May 31, 2010 at 8:00 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
Glad I was educated when we valued youth and understood their education's connection to a thriving future and economy. Today's youth, seniors, and everyone else is considered a "burden to society'. What a bunch of selfish cheapskates we have become. ME first and only!!! Gee maybe this recession is the result of all that "invest in nothing but me" attitude.
May 31, 2010 at 8:10 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
well don't complain about their needing "remedial education" and not being prepared for the work force. You've got no one but yourself and your selfish "me first" ways to blame.
May 31, 2010 at 8:13 AM Report abuse
jake007 said...
Mutt...good question as what I asked. ..........BonusEleven said it best!
May 31, 2010 at 8:19 AM Report abuse
BSmart said...
Simple, at least for Portland. First, ELIMINATE buses. For the life of me I can't see why kids can't walk a few blocks to school. Seriously. Every morning I watch buses pick up kids and drive them 3 blocks. It's ridiculous. Next. Administrative staff positions in the Portland school department cut by half. Period. That should leave a large surplus to hire a few more teachers and a nice property tax reduction.
May 31, 2010 at 8:25 AM Report abuse
trisailer said...
This is what it has come to because of your determination to prevent rich people from paying their fair share of taxes. Their sitting in their mansions laughing at you teabaggers. I'm pretty sure that there is no end to the amount of suffering that they will inflict on you. Who needs education anyway.
May 31, 2010 at 8:53 AM Report abuse
crackhead said...
Tax Maine politicians at 50% since they aren't in it for the money anyway.
May 31, 2010 at 9:16 AM Report abuse
gotabor said...
Good! About freakin time these schoolboards have a dose of reality!!! Taxing people out of their homes so superintendants and principals can make 100k a year when they just lounge around the"teachers" room and drink coffee trying to figure out what they are going to do with their 4 months paid vacation time. I bet 99% of HS graduates cant even change a tire on a car. Some education!
May 31, 2010 at 9:50 AM Report abuse
nikonwilly said...
Our type of forced education will eventually cost more than the tax payer can afford and what do you end up with in the end...half wit convenience store clerks that can't even add or subtract. The decline in our Agricultural and manufacturing industries have resulted in much more than unemployment of the hard to employ.
May 31, 2010 at 9:52 AM Report abuse
PtldParent said...
Unfortunately, some short term pain may be necessary in order to truly get reform in schools. Large shortfalls that aren't covered by local tax increases or Federal largesse may finally get more people to question the teachers' union cabal and lack of choice in education. Don't you love that the article says that senior admin, aides, janitors and bus drivers went without a raise...but TEACHERS are conspicuously absent from that? God forbid the union forego any scheduled increases! Plus...they fail to point out that indexed increases or "step increases" for attending a class or getting a certification don't "count" as a raise...
May 31, 2010 at 9:56 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
and yet we can "afford" to GIVE UP precious and needed tax revenue BY eliminating the tax on business equipment. GO figure!!
May 31, 2010 at 10:01 AM Report abuse
Ladydiodes2 said...
There is something wrong with our education system, when you have such a poor grade level and students can not even read, write, and do math. Plus they can not even tell time without a digital clock. We had 2 teachers for 8 grades and everyone one of us could pass all state required tests and go on to high school and graduate. So if the way we were taught in the 50's worked why not apply it now in the 21st century and start having teachers be teachers, parents be parents and have students who are well educated. Cut out all this high admin crap and start teaching school. The schools are running like they are a business. It's time that the admin staff was cut to the bare bones and go back to the 50's style of education.
May 31, 2010 at 10:12 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
"What a bunch of selfish cheapskates we have become"....fact is, Maine is one of the top per pupil spending states in the U.S. and once had the smallest class sizes in the U.S. ....Generalizations; but Maine has lavished money on public schools and scholarships to UMS. Based on SAT scores it doesn't seem to have done that much good. Education budget cutting should be systematic, from UMS to Pre-K; and freed of union influence so that program comes first, teacher perks and benefits second. The union now determines where and when every budget reduction takes place; and that puts the schools at their mercy.
May 31, 2010 at 10:41 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
If 30-40% of the students are 'Special ed' needing 'remedial Education' what does that say about political participation when they start voting?
May 31, 2010 at 10:45 AM Report abuse
biddguy said...
Biddeford cut a spec needs teacher who was low man on the union totem pole. Parents cried "foul" because she was such a good teacher, and her position will be filled by another teacher with more seniority. I wonder how those parents like the union now? Live by the union, die by the union.
May 31, 2010 at 10:51 AM Report abuse
MSH said...
Biddguy just made my day....Hire and fire teachers based on POPULARITY....no need for those stuffy old union rules! I wonder if Mr. biddguy was voted most POPULAR in his (I assume) graduating class....
May 31, 2010 at 11:04 AM Report abuse
DasBoot said...
About time.
May 31, 2010 at 11:33 AM Report abuse
frankmargel said...
Deflation...
May 31, 2010 at 11:48 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Bush administration told the union to put up or shut up in regard to Charter Schools. The NEA refused to run one; but AFT did---probably because the founder of AFT, Al Shanker, was one of a group of five educators who founded the Charter school movement. AFT did some studies and almost opened a charter school to compete with local public schools but eventually backed out of it...so now they just whine about taking money from public schools and Obama has picked up the Bush Administration NCLB themes and taken on the unions head on. DEM's are split over Obama's insistence on holding teachers accountable and opening thousands of charter schools. There are enough frugal superintendents in Maine who run high quality schools to take over the MDOE...but it will take a Republican to appoint them, a DEM will have the Union's hands around their neck!
May 31, 2010 at 12:04 PM Report abuse
sapereaude1 said...
How is it that Maine's public schools can't afford core curricula such as languages, music and art, but can still afford varsity sports? How many taxpayers' children will make their living playing professional sports, as opposed to doing music, theater, art, or interaction with speakers of another language? It is not the role of Government to run the school system; it is the role of government to set the bar for acquiring a high-school degree or a bachelor's degree, and the role of the school faculty and local parents or (in the case of colleges) the board of trustees and faculty to determine how to get the students over the bar. Maine's schools have come to model themselves after Corporate Capitalism--a few administrators get most of the money, and the investors (parents and students) get jack.
May 31, 2010 at 12:13 PM Report abuse
sapereaude1 said...
Addendum: my family first got involved in public education sometime before the Civil War, and we've been stuck in that tar-baby since. My great-great grandparents first taught in one-room schoolhouses, complete with a well and outhouse. The students learned to play games that didn't require busing to another township. They also learned a lot of essential knowledge by the 8th grade that most high-school graduates today don't know. Find a 19th century 8th or 9th-grade textbook with test questions in a local antiquarian bookstore or group antique shop, and see how many of the questions you or your children can answer. You'll be surprised and embarrassed.
May 31, 2010 at 12:23 PM Report abuse
BonusEleven said...
sapereaude1, so your family has been directly involved with the dumbing down of America? Congratulations and nice work...truly a wonderful legacy your family can hang its hat on!
May 31, 2010 at 12:45 PM Report abuse
henryelm said...
" Based on SAT scores it doesn't seem to have done that much good." AND" If 30-40% of the students are 'Special ed'" There goes common making things UP again and playing loose and free with HIS "facts". Maine is in the top 5-10 in national test scores. OUR SAT scores are lower because ALL HS students, NOT just the college bound ones, as else where, take the test. 30-40% are specile ed!! BOY your nose grew a foot with THAT LIE!!!
May 31, 2010 at 12:50 PM Report abuse
crackhead said...
Looks like you are the minority here,henry elm. The people have spoken. there are SOME sensible people left in Maine. I can't believe it.
May 31, 2010 at 12:50 PM Report abuse
henryelm said...
oh yeah and COMMON you forgot to mention the recent studies that show charter schools do NO BETTER then PIUBLIC on test scores or the charter school in MA that got caught cheating on the tests this past year, or the one caught on camaera, months ago, beating a kid!!!They couldn't take away her teaching certificate BECAUSE she DIDN'T HAVE ONE!!!
May 31, 2010 at 1:01 PM Report abuse
henryelm said...
The state is paying 42% of education funding instead of the promised and voter required 55%.!!! The state is underfunding education (at a BASIC level) BY 13% as required BY EPS. Hopefully some parent will sue, eventually, to MAKE the state follow the law. TOO bad the UNIONS haven't had the courage to do so. I'd say that "raining down of money" is a snow job and fallacy like everything else you have to say, common.
May 31, 2010 at 1:09 PM Report abuse
David said...
Maine's priorities are backwards. I watch money being wasted on palatial facilities, seemingly endless bureaucracies, laptop computers that are used for type and PowerPoint presentations, and a rigid emphasis on conformity and regurgitation. Have you scene the obscene performance theater built in Westbrook? The Taj Mahal elementary school in Pownal? It's idiocy.
May 31, 2010 at 2:09 PM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Henry, stop lying. Maine's SAT scores are below mean; and slowly sinking for the past several decades. NAEP scores are just a sample, and not culmulative, in that they don't measure the end result of 12 years of public schools. EDWEEK evaluates all the states every year, and Maine only rated a 'C'in k-12 achievement and a D+ (68.1) in 'status'. The 2009 MEAN(Arithmatic average) National SAT reading scores were 501 in READING; 515 in MATHEMATICS, and 493 in writing. Maine's were 468, 467, and 455 respectively. Even your biased mind should be able to see how far below the national average Maine's scores are! READY TO STOP LYING?
May 31, 2010 at 2:09 PM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Henry, 'cherry picking' adverse indicidents from over 1,000 charter schools who serve the 'worse' students and in the poorest neighborhoods doesn't compare them with the schools their students come from. Unions shield perverts and pedophiles and inept teachers. Besides if a charter can't measure up to it's charter contract, it gets terminated....America would be so lucky to get similar contracts with public schools....Maine has how many 'failing' public schools now?
May 31, 2010 at 2:14 PM Report abuse
crackhead said...
Henry, You are full of it. Everyone knows this.I think you have learned the unaccountability and telling half-truths from our great supreme leader-BHO.Scum like you are perpetuating the entitlement, pc attitude that is destroying our great state and country. Just stop.
May 31, 2010 at 3:13 PM Report abuse
c2hpcG1hdGU%3D said...
From gotabor: "Taxing people out of their homes so superintendants and principals can make 100k a year when they just lounge around the"teachers" room and drink coffee trying to figure out what they are going to do with their 4 months paid vacation time." First of all, principals and superintendents do not hang in the teachers' lounge because they are not "teachers." Also, they do not get 4 months vacation time! Not even close. I'm not saying they're not overpaid, but they do work year-round. Get your facts straight.
May 31, 2010 at 6:57 PM Report abuse
c2hpcG1hdGU%3D said...
common_cents said... If 30-40% of the students are 'Special ed' needing 'remedial Education' what does that say about political participation when they start voting? Get your facts straight too... In Maine the percentage of special ed. students is less than 15%.
May 31, 2010 at 7:01 PM Report abuse
XPortlander said...
Let's get out of the Public School Program and go to vouchers......then we will truly see how much us actually spent on Education. It is nothing but abuse these liberals and demnocrats continue to do day after day, month after month and year after year. We are at the point we we should just work everyday, get our paycheck and mail it all to the state and divide it evenly amoung all Mainers.....thats what a liberal wants.
May 31, 2010 at 7:27 PM Report abuse
twosprouts said...
This is a nation wide problem....unfortunately. Schools and libraries are getting hit hard.
May 31, 2010 at 7:33 PM Report abuse
BonusEleven said...
Just look to c2hpcG1hdGU%3D to get your local superintendent's perspective. Of course, opinions and attitudes like these are the root of the problem. These people truly BELIEVE they are contributing enough to earn 100k a year! Good lord...they create NOTHING, while using a little bit of something from everyone.
May 31, 2010 at 9:49 PM Report abuse
Bole said...
If we didn't have dropouts who would we put in prison?
May 31, 2010 at 10:46 PM Report abuse
dcl4500 said...
You want to find some more money in the budgets, get the schools to buy PC instead of Apples. Not only are PCs cheaper, by a lot, they more accurately reflect what the business world uses. PC laptop may not be as "cool" as an Apple, but go to any Staples and you can pick up a darned fine machine for $500 or so, try that with an Apple.
June 1, 2010 at 12:45 AM Report abuse
DasBoot said...
Our education system is a travesty, over funded,over staffed and over hyped. They teach little more than liberal hate America drivel.
June 1, 2010 at 5:35 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
"Let's get out of the Public School Program and go to vouchers.." X mirrors all the comments from alphebet soup The anti's support charter schools and vouchers and HATE the thought of competing with PUBLIC cshools!!! ED WEEK is the mouth piece for that movement. They have a total subsciutiion of 50,000 LESS then the PPH has!!!And donlt day HOW they define their "rankings" just like rasmuseen doesn't GIVE their demopgraghics.Keep selling the snake oil boys!!!Someone will be FOOL enough to BUY it.
June 1, 2010 at 8:55 AM Report abuse
henryelm said...
Dpn't come crying to me when you can't find qualified workers!!!You get what you pay for. Gee they had to find some way to pay for a REDUCTION IN THEIR TAXES and OUR tax revenue They decided to take it OUT of education. Like I said don't go complainingto me when you can't find qualified workers. You have NOONE but your cheap self-interested selves to blame.
June 1, 2010 at 9:00 AM Report abuse
Jeff19 said...
common_cents, I noticed you omitted one key comment when you were talking about George Bush role in education and charter schools. You failed to note that Bush PROMISED every state that he would FULLY fund NCLB, so that the cost would not be passed on to property owners. NCLB was a venture that cost 860+ billion dollars. After Bush was elected, take a wild guess as to how much of that PROMISED federal money was given to the states... Thats right....ZERO! Now, you have a good idea of why the states are in such financial dire straights, from an fiscal standpoint.
June 1, 2010 at 9:41 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
When Jeffi sez After Bush was elected, take a wild guess as to how much of that PROMISED federal money was given to the states... Thats right....ZERO! Now, Not only is that a factual lie, but moronic when it comes to NCLB funding of Maine. Maine's funding doubled under Bush, despite a declining enrollment....facts easily documented ...why Moronic? Because you don't have a clue about how govt. programs are funded...first there is a budget request by the President; then an authorization and finally an appropriation....and during this process various lobbying groups demand a greater amount of funds than Congress will allocate. Unfortunately, Bush, not Congress, got tagged with what was finally allocated to various states. This is a typical lobbying stance from the Center for Teacher quality: "No Child Left Behind Act programs: Funding would be $24.91 billion, an increase of only $448 million, or 1.8%, over the FY04 level of $24.46 billion. The Bush budget underfunds..."
June 1, 2010 at 10:32 AM Report abuse
Hobbes said...
Henry - Can we have some of your welfare check to put back into education? You complain about underfunding of education and you would have no hard feelings about getting free healthcare right? Just pick another dollar off the money tree, because that's where money comes from right? Spend spend spend. I guess if I didn't pay taxes, I wouldn't care either. Can you let me know who wins on Price is Right today?
June 1, 2010 at 10:41 AM Report abuse
common_cents said...
Henry/jeffy...go choke on this fact: "According to the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE), Maine has seen a "47 percent funding increase over the last five years while the student census has declined 30 percent." Phillips(deputy commissioner of MDOE in his testimony on Brennan's lawsuit against the Bush administration), however, said the MDOE never requested additional funding from USDOE, and that the state had even returned some of the money." Fewer students; yet more money and still we have morons whining that it isn't enough....EVEN IF THE STATE RETURNS IT! Maine was a partner in the lawsuits against the BUSH administrtion stressing that Learning Results were superior to the methods for accountability under NCLB....so after a decade of delays and lawsuits, guess which state decided to abandon Learning results? ....MAINE DID!
June 1, 2010 at 10:41 AM Report abuse
MSH said...
Gee, when will the poor whiners pack and leave? They'll be happier and so will the rest of us...
June 1, 2010 at 11:51 AM Report abuse
David said...
The laptop program isn't a bust because they use Apple products. (In fact, between the great deal Apple struck, and the far lower cost of maintenance and support, the Macs are actually the smart choice, by far.) It's a bust because those computers are being used as glorified typewriters -- and little else. If the laptops were used to teach everyone rudimentary computer programming or some other skill that couldn't be readily done with a pen and paper, that would be one thing. But, right now, they are a complete waste of money.
June 1, 2010 at 2:20 PM Report abuse