Residents of Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel will vote Tuesday on a $48.1 million education budget for Regional School Unit 21.

The budget, which is up 5.1 percent, includes the peak year of payments on the debt from renovation projects at Kennebunk High School and two district elementary schools. School officials anticipate debt service payments will decrease starting in the next budget year as the interest rate declines.

The budget also adds eight new pre-kindergarten classrooms for 128 students. The cost of that program is $837,000, but is offset by $918,000 in funding from the state, according to district officials.

Also included in the budget proposal is an additional $280,000 to hire school resource officers for each of the four elementary schools in the district. Currently, school resource officers work at the high school and middle school. The district pays 75 percent of the salary and benefits for each school resource officer, while the assigning police department would pay the rest.

If approved, the budget will increase property taxes in each of the three communities in the district. For a home valued at $200,000, the property tax bill would increase $166 annually in Arundel, $178 annually in Kennebunk and $30 annually in Kennebunkport.

Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Kennebunk Town Hall Auditorium; from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Village Fire Station in Kennebunkport; and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Arundel Fire Station.

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