Voters to decide on whether to keep school budget validation process.

Is going to the polls each year to vote on the school budget a vital exercise in democracy or a confusing, unnecessary process that voters would like to forego?

That’s a question that Maine voters will answer for themselves this year in each school district. On the date they go to the polls to vote on whether to validate their local school budgets, they’ll also be asked whether they want to keep on voting on their school budgets each year.

In South Portland, Thursday, May 6 is the date set for voters to decide on whether to ratify that city’s new school budget. Scarborough residents will hold their school budget validation referendum vote on Tuesday, May 11, and Cape Elizabeth voters will decide about their school budget on Tuesday, June 8.

But this year, in addition to deciding whether to validate their local school spending plans, voters in those communities and other school districts around the state will be asked another question. It will read: “Do you wish to continue the budget ratification referendum process in (name of school district) for an additional three years?”

This is the third year that state law has mandated that communities send school budgets to voters for final approval. Previously, local legislative bodies, such as a town council or city council, had the last word on the bottom line of the school budget in most school districts.

But the state law requiring the public school budget votes, which passed in 2007, also contained a provision saying that school districts must ask voters after three years whether they want to continue with the school budget referendum process.

Now it’s time for that vote in local communities — and the question is sparking debate on whether sending the school budget to the voters each year is a good idea.

Supporters say the public school budget validation vote is an important part of the democratic process that gives the public more say in local school spending.

However, critics say the votes should be discontinued. They say such special elections cost municipalities money, yet few voters turn out for them. Also, because so few people vote, critics say, there’s a chance the budget process can be manipulated by special interest groups.

South Portland parent Peter Stocks said he plans to vote against continuing the annual school budget vote because he trusts his elected representatives on the Board of Education and City Council to make sound budget decisions after gathering public input.

“I’m not a person who believes that everything should go to referendum,” said Stocks, one of the founding members of the Partnership for South Portland Schools, a new citizens’ group formed to support education in the city.

Stocks said the group hasn’t taken a formal position on the budget validation votes, but he personally doesn’t favor them.

“I think there are sufficient checks and balances with the City Council,” Stocks said.

But supporters of public budget validation votes say the process is working, and predict that voter turnout will increase in the future as more people become aware of the need to actively support local schools.

Christine Kukka, a Scarborough parent and a spokeswoman for Saving Excellence in Scarborough Schools, a group of residents and educators that formed to advocate for the schools in that community, said she wants the annual public budget vote to continue in Scarborough.

“The school budget validation vote and other funding referenda serve as litmus tests to see if a community and its elected officials are in sync with each other,” Kukka said in an e-mail communication. “It’s a great exercise in democracy.”

‘Transparency’ ?at issue

The requirement that school districts hold annual school budget validation referendum questions was part of the 2007 law that called for reorganizing the state’s 290 school districts, according to Maine Department of Education spokesman David Connerty-Marin.

The law calls for reducing the number of school districts by consolidating them. There currently are about 215 school districts statewide, but that number is expected to decrease as more districts take steps to reorganize, Connerty-Marin said last week.

He said that originally, back in 2000, a school budget validation vote was put into law as an option for school districts. In the 2007 law, it became a requirement, he said.

Connerty-Marin said the education department supports school budget validation votes because they are “great for transparency.”

“We feel it leads to a greater understanding by the voters of the budget,” he said. “If a budget fails at referendum … it forces school officials to work harder at explaining the budget and why it is the way they presented it.”

“It’s really a matter of educating the public,” Connerty-Marin said.

However, South Portland City Councilor Linda Boudreau contends the process confuses the public because the budget has to broken down into sections that sometimes contain jargon.

Also, Boudreau said, the public vote makes it seem as though elected officials aren’t being transparent when they debate and vote on the school budget, when in fact they are.

“The public elects a school board and city council. We go through all kinds of public hearings,” she said. “The transparency is there if you choose to participate. This kind of implies there isn’t transparency.”

When the City Council voted April 26 to approve the new $37.9 million 2010-2011 school budget, Boudreau stated publicly that she hopes voters will decide to end the budget validation process in South Portland.

“I think the state did a real disservice to the communities and the state of Maine when they put all this in place,” Boudreau said at the meeting.

She said the categories into which state law says the budget must be broken down for voters contain wording that is “vague” and “confusing” for voters.

Some of the categories ask voters to approve sums of money for regular instruction, special education and career and technical education.

However, Boudreau noted that others are less clear. For example, she noted one line in which voters are asked if they want to approve that “$749,175 be authorized to be expended for Other Instruction.”

Voter turnout

South Portland has more than 18,000 registered voters. However, 900 to 1,200 voters typically show up for special elections like the budget validation vote, said City Clerk Susan Mooney.

This year’s May 6 budget validation election will cost the city about $1,300, Mooney said.

She said the cost would be higher if all the city’s polling places weren’t being consolidated into one at the South Portland Community Center. Mooney said that after the new law passed in 2007, she asked the City Council for permission to combine polling locations for special elections.

Boudreau said she’s concerned that turnout is so low for the budget validation votes. “When you have that small a turnout, it’s easy to influence a vote,” she said.

In fact, she wonders how a small turnout will impact the vote on whether to continue holding the budget validation referendums.

In South Portland, the $37.9 million operating portion of the school budget that voters will consider on May 6 is nearly $1.6 million or 4 percent less than the current school budget of about $39.5 million.

However, it would eliminate 25 positions, including teachers. The school board has said the cuts are necessary because of a dramatic loss in revenues, such as the $1.5 million less in state education aid that South Portland will receive in the new fiscal year.

Still, the budget will result in a 10-cent increase on the current tax rate of $14.70 per $1,000 of property value. That’s because the budget would establish a capital reserve account of more than $500,000. That money would be set aside for future improvements to the city’s secondary schools.

A contentious year

In Scarborough, the Town Council was slated to vote on the school budget on May 5, after the Current’s deadline. The school budget the council approves will go to voters May 11.

The proposed 2010-11 school budget of nearly $35 million that was to come before the council on May 5 has been very controversial. Like South Portland, Scarborough also is facing drastic reductions in state aid and other revenues, and the school budget proposal slashes the equivalent of about 30 full-time positions and would impose fees on students for extracurricular activities.

The school budget would add 30 cents to the tax rate of $12.15 per $1,000 of property value. However, some members of the Saving Excellence in Scarborough Schools group have said the town doesn’t spend enough on its schools and they’re willing to pay more taxes to avoid the staff cuts.

Kukka, a member of that group, sees a public vote on the budget as a way for residents to ensure that their voices are heard.

“In Scarborough, the Town Council has wielded an almost veto-like power over the school budget, which has left the school committee without much willingness to lead or effectively advocate for education,” Kukka said. “This year, for the first time, many residents finally showed up and advocated for education, pushing both the school committee and the Town Council to protect the school budget as much as possible. I believe the validation vote becomes a powerful tool when a community is organized, motivated and can use it as leverage.”

Scarborough Town Clerk Tody Justice said that the school budget validation vote will cost the town about $1,000. She said Scarborough has 14,733 active registered voters. In 2008, 580 voters participated in the school budget validation vote and in 2009, the count was 1,079, Justice said.

Kukka called the previous low voter turnouts “a bit of an indictment of Scarborough” and said it suggested “ambivalence or passive contentment.”

She said she hopes turnout will be greater for this budget vote and future ones.

“In a democracy we get the government – or in this case the school budget – we deserve unless we exercise our rights and get out and vote,” Kukka said.

Timing varies

One way to get greater turnout for a school budget validation referendum is to schedule it in conjunction with the general election that communities hold in June each year.

Cape Elizabeth this year has set its budget validation vote for June 8, the date of the general election.

However, many communities prefer to hold their budget validation votes in May. That way, if voters reject the school budget, there is time before the new fiscal year begins July 1 for a new school budget proposal to be prepared and sent to voters in another referendum.

In 2008, Cape Elizabeth voters at the June 10 election failed to approve the school budget, with most voters saying it was too low. Voters also rejected a revised budget again on July 22 of that year, saying it was too high. It took until Sept. 2 that year for voters to approve a $19.8 million school budget they liked.

In 2009, the budget validation vote in Cape Elizabeth was held May 12. Voters approved the $19.3 million school budget vote on the first try.

This year, the School Board will present its $20.67 million 2010-2011 school budget proposal to the Town Council’s Finance Committee on May 6, at a workshop to begin at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

The council is expected to vote on the bottom line of the school budget on May 25. It will then go to voters on June 8.