BRUNSWICK — With attendance requiring two overflow rooms, the Brunswick School Board heard public input Thursday on a budget process that will aim to close a gap of approximately $3 million.

School officials said Thursday that in the short term they do not expect help from state or federal sources.

“The funding of education is going to shift further and further onto the shoulder of the local municipality,” School Board Budget Committee chairman Rich Ellis said during a presentation on the state’s funding formula. “What that leaves for us as a local municipality is the decision as to what type of educational program are we going to have in this town.”

Following Thursday’s meeting, Ellis and Superintendent Paul Perzanoski said that public comment showed them strong support for schools and a willingness to look at tax increases as a way to close the budget gap, but both acknowledged that Thursday’s forum may not represent consensus among townspeople.

“We heard a lot of support for the schools,” Ellis said. “But I don’t want to discount that it’s hard to come out to these meetings to speak against tax raises.”

Thursday’s meeting to solicit public input was the first in a process that will continue through six more meetings between now and April 25 to determine how — through cuts, new revenue or other measures, including consolidation — the school department might make up decreases in state and federal funding.

“ This is a start to the process,” Ellis said. “Equally as important are the coming meetings, where we talk about each of the programs and supplementing or changing those programs.”

In February, Perzanoski said “there’s nothing that will be left untouched” by this most recent round of cuts, which come as the fourth consecutive year of revenue decreases for the district.

Perzanoski said that tax increases may be included as part of the recommended budget.

“We can come up with the best budget, we think, for the district and bring it forward and the Town Council may decide that they don’t think they can afford the tax increases, so it’s a balance with the whole community,” Perzanoski said. “We’ll try to take everything into consideration, but we are here to advocate for the kids.”

Still, Perzanoski expressed a willingness to compromise.

“As the Rolling Stones say, ‘ You can’t always get what you want.’”

Why and how much

In a presentation that opened Thursday’s meeting, Ellis characterized the decrease in state education subsidy to Brunswick as a “ perfect storm,” with the direction of the two factors that determine how much money Brunswick receives — student population and the valuation of town property — meaning decreases in state funding.

From 2010 to 2011, Perzanoski said, the district lost 127 students while the town’s overall property assessment for purposes of calculating state aid increased.

In the state’s formula, the number of students corresponds with a district’s estimated costs and the property valuation with the ability of the town to pay.

“Think of a town like Harpswell,” Ellis said. “They have very few students but extremely high property values.”

Based on recent trends in Brunswick, Ellis said, “We are becoming more and more like Harpswell.”

According to the presentation by Ellis and Perzanoski, the school department has seen a decrease of around 800 students since 2007. School officials attribute that decline largely to the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station (BNAS) and the departure of Navy families affiliated with the base.

On top of decreases in state revenue for the loss of those students, the district was hit doubly hard by the additional loss of federal funds associated with educating students from military families.

During the 2007 school year, the School Department received nearly $1.5 million in federal Impact Aid for students on base. By 2010, that amount had dwindled to $157,945 and last year hit zero.

The expiration of the federal jobs bill is the single largest federal cut to the district from this year to next, dropping to zero from $692,868.

Revenue from Durham students paying tuition to Brunswick also decreased with consolidation of Durham into Regional School Unit 5, from which some residents have recently petitioned to extricate the town.

In 2007, Brunswick educated 174 Durham students; this year, only 40. Compared with last year, the loss in tuition from Durham amounts to $148,703.

With an expected loss of $1.2 million in state subsidy and a decrease in special education funding of $ 170,000, that leaves the school department looking at a budget gap hovering near $3 million.

What to do

People speaking to the School Board on Thursday night expressed worry that another year of cuts would be a critical blow to the district.

Many who said they bought homes in Brunswick because of the town’s reputation for good schools told the School Board that they would consider moving elsewhere if the quality of public education in Brunswick declined. Some said they attended Thursday’s forum to encourage the School Board to recommend that the town increase taxes to curb this fourth year of cuts to the school system.

“We moved to Brunswick for the same reason everyone else did, because we heard the reputation of the public schools is terrific,” parent Sarah Singer said Thursday. “But I’m here today because I’m not confident that the schools will survive another round of cuts.”

Singer, with a son not yet in kindergarten, said that her concerns are shared by parents of other toddlers and parents she met through a Facebook page, “Brunswick Community United,” which she started in response to the budget cuts.

“Within a week, we had 100 members,” Singer said of the 136-member group.

Parent Vladimir Dovitovnikoff, who started another online effort at brunswickschools. wordpress.com, asked that the board “give voters a chance to do the right thing” by proposing a budget that includes local tax increases.

“If there’s waste, let’s cut it,” Dovitovnikoff said. “But it’s hard to see how there can be much waste when we’ve cut for three years, and any future cuts work against (the School Board’s) primary purpose and focus.”

Some parents spoke more specifically about fears of cuts to athletics. Others proposed that the district look at consolidation efforts that could include bringing Durham students back into the fold if the town quits RSU 5.

While some said cuts would encourage them to look elsewhere, Jaed Coffin said that’s not the case with him.

“ This is my hometown,” Coffin said. “We could have no school and I would probably still live here.”

The Brunswick High School graduate and author recalled his positive memories from high school.

“When I look back on my education in Brunswick, I don’t remember a lot about field trips,” Coffin said. “What I remember a lot about are my teachers, people who really made a significant difference in my life.”

Coffin said he would also be willing to pay more or volunteer as he said basketball coaches did when he was in third grade, but also that he expects some cuts after the hits to state funding.

“I think it’s going to happen because you are contingent on the plans in Augusta,” Coffin said. “But, at least coming from my family, we’re not going to hate you. We’re here and we’re sticking around and we’re more than happy to find solutions.”

Under state law, Brunswick voters must approve each year’s school budget in a townwide referendum.

Ellis said that the board will look at specific programs to explore what is needed in each area.

“We’ll look at those functional units and we’ll see what kind of system we’re proposing to build,” Ellis said. “At the end of the day, all of those pieces will add up to a total budget and we’ll see where we are.”

See the schedule of future budget meetings at http://ow.ly/9yfXu.

In Augusta

School officials said they’re not counting on more money from Washington or Augusta for next year’s budget, but Brunswick’s legislative delegation said Thursday night that there still may be options to find additional funding at the state level.

“Money comes out of Augusta in different ways,” Sen. Stan Gerzofsky, D-Brunswick, said after Thursday’s forum. “You don’t just have to get education money, you can get money elsewhere that would offset education money — backfill it another way.”

Gerzofsky declined to specify where that funding might come from, saying only that Brunswick’s lawmakers are “not putting all of our eggs anyplace.”

Rep. Alex Cornell du Houx, D-Brunswick, said he’s submitted a bill addressing how cuts in state aid are dealt to communities with dramatic population shifts as in the case of a mill closure or the closure of Brunswick Naval Air Station.

With a month, maybe more, left in the legislative session, Cornell du Houx said that any additions to the legislative calendar could be “tough this late in the session,” and any changes to come out of this session would not affect the 2012-13 school budget.

Since cuts in state funding to Brunswick schools were announced last month, Perzanoski has said he’s not counting on more support from the state.

“ We’ll see,” Perzanoski said. “There’s a lot of talk.”

dfishell@timesrecord.com

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