BOWDOINHAM

The forecast isn’t looking sunny for the School Administrative District 75 budget.

That was the message delivered by SAD 75 officials at Tuesday night’s Board of Selectmen meeting in Bowdoinham, who offered information about known impacts to the as-yet-unfinished budget. Selectmen had requested additional numbers regarding the savings SAD 75 has found in an effort to try to keep costs down.

The district serves Bowdoin, Bowdoinham, Harpswell and Topsham. Currently, Bowdoinham contributes the least of the four towns for education costs.

Superintendent Brad Smith said that while staff salaries have risen since 2011, the staffing has decreased in that time period, keeping those costs relatively flat.

“What hasn’t remained stable,” he said, “are the health insurance costs.”

That price tag has risen $1.3 million since 2011 — $4.2 million to the current $5.5 million, a 31 percent increase over that span.

Special education costs have risen $846,000, despite the number of students identified as eligible for those services.

“What we do see, though, is an increase in more significant eligibility categories,” Smith said, noting those include autism and multiple disability, which require a greater spectrum of assistance.

Out-of-district placement for students who SAD 75 can’t provide programs for cost the district $318,000 in the current school year, so it is a looming budget impact.

“Declining student enrollment in our district has and will, in all likelihood, continue to present challenges for us,” Smith said.

Enrollment in the district has declined by 279 students since 2011, a trend that seems likely to continue. There is an expected decrease of 10 students in the middle school, 24 students at the elementary level and 43 students at the high school. Those number continue the pattern of larger classes of students graduating and smaller classes coming in — 208 students are projected to graduate at the end of the school year, with 186 students entering the high school.

Another trend unlikely to change soon is increasing insurance costs. The district is anticipating a 5.5-percent increase — $310,000 — for next year, but that number is only an estimate; the district will learn the true figure in mid-March. Contractual salary increases, based on three-year contracts, Smith said, also will add to the increased expenditures, as they will total $610,000 in 2016.

For the second year in a row, SAD 75 will not be using its fund balance to reduce the local tax impact, a mechanism used to do so in years past. In its current budget, not using the fund balance represented a $900,000 reduction in revenue from the previous year.

Knowing the state is unlikely to meet the current rate of funding, the prospect of an increase in the education request the town is looking at “is a little scary,” said Selectwoman Wendy Cunningham.

“Our single biggest expense is people,” Smith said, adding the district is looking on how it could reduce that expense.

The district has cut programming, he said, and is looking to provide opportunities for students through online options.

SAD 75 Business Manager Steve Dyer said the district has received a grant to explore distance learning, and it is considering a new accounting system to achieve some efficiencies. As for the district buildings, he said, a 2008 retrofit to the mechanical systems reduced expenses, something officials are expecting with an LED light retrofit project. The diesel school buses also are the most cost effective.

The budget presentation is on the SAD 75 website at www.link75.org. The finance committee will hold a budget forum at Bowdoinham Community School on March 31.

dmoore@timesrecord.com

The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu