TOPSHAM — With one member opposed, the School Administrative District 75 board of directors on Thursday formally adopted a 2012-13 budget of $33,394,830.16 and warrant articles that will go to a district budget meeting on May 24.
The budget is the same as the budget the board unanimously accepted April 12 and represents a decrease of $816,753 from the 2011-12 budget. Local contributions are projected to increase for Bowdoin, Bowdoinham and Harpswell, and to decrease for Topsham.
Board member Jane Scease was the lone board member who voted against the budget Thursday, following discussion about whether to cut a 0.4 nursing position from Mt. Ararat Middle School.
Citing awards SAD 75 has received for its health services, school board member Dorothy Gardner advocated for restoring the position.
“There’s been a lot of hard work and the thing that troubles me the most is what they deal with. Health issues don’t just begin at Mt. Ararat (High School),” Gardner said. “Many move on up from the middle school, and I would say it’s penny wise and pound foolish to drop the 0.4 nurse from the budget. I feel very strongly about that.”
Though many position cuts have been included in the proposed 2012-13 budget, debate largely focused on the 0.4 nursing position, an elementary school teacher and a library position.
During the public comment session, Topsham residents John Byrne and Trisha Gordon urged the board to authorize open warrant articles, meaning that spending for specific cost centers can be increased or decreased, rather than closed warrant articles that only allow participants at the town-wide district budget meeting on May 24 to decrease article amounts.
The school board debated the merits of having open or closed articles, then voted to close the warrant articles by a 7-to-4 vote that translated to 501-to-272 in the board’s weighted voting system. Board members Jane Meisenbach, Kay Ogrodnik, Scease and Gardner voted against the closed article warrants. Two board members were absent, and Laurel Lopez abstained.
During the debate, Scease argued that the school district has cut so much from the budgets during the past couple of years that at some point, people who attend the districtwide budget meeting will want to stop cuts and add items back into the budget.
“I think it’s time that we let ourselves hear — because people don’t come to the Finance Committee meetings, they just don’t — so if we give people a chance this time … if they want to raise it, give them a chance to do it,” Scease said. “My view is that it’s now time to let people have their say and let them have a voice and if they want to add to the number we have, fine. I’m not happy with the cuts.”
Board member Joanne Rogers clarified that if there were open articles, “you can only at that meeting add money. You may not add individuals, a position or anything else. The board makes the decision as to where that money goes, so I think the public needs to be very clear that if they came to a meeting wanting something specific, there is no guarantee with what they add, that that will be what is put back into the budget.”
Board member Scott Mc- Kernan warned that the budget also must win approval from all voters in the district at a June 12 referendum.
“This is where they are generally going to express their feelings on the budget,” McKernan said. This is where the bulk of the folks who are on fixed incomes, who are hard-pressed to afford paying for the schools, and who are hard-pressed to afford increases to their taxes … get their say. We’ve got to have something that can be acceptable to everybody, and that’s why… the closed articles is generally the best way to go at this meeting.”
Board chairwoman Kim Totten said that the board did add back to the budget. Administrators work to know what their schools need and “we have to trust them and know that if something comes up, that we will cover it,” she said. “We will find a way to make it work, because the bottom line is our kids, it’s not the money.”
“Absolutely the bottom line is our children,” Gardner said, again restating her belief that the 0.4 nurse position at the middle school is important.
“I don’t want to wait until something happens and we decide, ‘Hey, we need somebody there.’ We’re dealing with children with difficult problems,” Gardner said.
Rogers countered once more that money could be added at the district budget meeting but with no guarantee it will be used for the nurse position or any other specific use. She suggested that, if the need for more nursing coverage arises during the school year, the board could seek money from contingency funds to pay for it.
A public hearing on the budget will be held at 6 p.m. on May 10 at Mt. Ararat High School. The districtwide budget meeting will start at 6:30 p.m. May 24 at the Orion Performing Arts Center.
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