A CLOSER LOOK
The Cape Elizabeth School Committee is holding another budget workshop on Saturday beginning at 8:30 a.m., at the Town Hall chamber. Principals of each school, as well as the special education department, will present their budgets.
The budget will be up for school board approval on April 10 and presented to the town council finance committee on April 23.
Cape Elizabeth Superintendent Alan Hawkins, who underwent open heart surgery in January, returned to school Monday – just in time to present his 2007-2008 budget to the school board.
Hawkins was scheduled to present the budget at a workshop on Tuesday. Along with Hawkins, the athletic director, technology director and curriculum director were also scheduled to give their reports. The workshop is being held after The Current’s deadline.
According to Pauline Aportria, business manager, the budget totals $19,024,575, which represents a 4.28 percent increase over last year. Hawkins said he “focused on maintaining the school as it is running.”
Hawkins said that staff salaries and benefits, which are under contract, are driving the increase, and that no new positions or programs have been added. However, at the school board level, there may be discussion about whether there is a need for decrease in class size, which would require positions to be added.
The public will have more opportunities to comment at a budget workshop on Saturday, beginning at 8:30 a.m., at the Town Hall chamber. The principals of each school, as well as the special education department, will present their individual budgets in detail to the school board. The budget will be up for school board approval on April 10 and presented to the town council finance committee on April 23.
Despite Hawkins’ absence, Aportria said the amount of work she had to put into the budget was “probably not any different than any other year.”
Hawkins said he is taking his return to school day by day, but doesn’t expect it to be long before he is back at work full-time.
“I certainly feel a lot stronger than I was two weeks ago,” he said.
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