CUMBERLAND — In light of the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, School Administrative District 51 officials have proposed cutting an additional $263,000 in expenses, but adding nearly $215,000 to fund protective measures against the spread of the virus.
The $40.25 million budget for next year – which the School Board is due to adopt Monday, June 8, and goes before a final public vote at referendum July 14 – reflects a 4.85% hike over current spending.
That percentage includes increases of 3.47% in SAD 51’s operating budget, 1.01% in debt service, and 0.37% to lease temporary space to house a modular building at the Mabel I. Wilson elementary school.
Cumberland’s tax rate could rise 50 cents (81 cents more from the school and 2 cents from Cumberland County, offset by a 33-cent decrease on the town side), adding $150 to the tax bill for a $300,000 home. That’s a 2.5% increase, with an average two-year tax impact of 1.25%.
North Yarmouth’s tax rate could rise 12 cents, or 0.75% – including 8 cents more from the school and 2.4 cents from the town – adding $36 to a $300,000 home’s tax bill.
District-wide enrollment of 2,129 this year is projected to rise to 2,175 next year, particularly among younger students. Despite that, next year’s budget proposes nearly $396,000 in staffing reductions. Those include a community development manager ($66,000) and a teacher at both Greely High ($69,000) and Middle ($65,000) schools, due to slightly decreased class sizes, as well as the manager of the Greely Center for the Arts ($58,000), the latter to be replaced by a $10,000 arts center supervisor stipend.
Recent cuts include $65,000 for a duplicated position in the budget, and a $50,000 drop in special education contingency due to fewer students that need to be sent offsite for instruction, according to Superintendent Jeff Porter. Of $65,000 planned for safety items recommended by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, only $5,000 for safety bollards and planters in front of vulnerable glass surfaces at Greely High and Wilson – deemed the top priority – would be funded next year. Other items on the list, such as additional outdoor surveillance cameras and expanded exterior lighting, will be budgeted later.
“We want to do these things; these are definitely capital projects,” Porter said. “But given the budget year we’re in we can’t do (them).”
Additional expenses related to protection against the spread of COVID-19 include nearly $87,000 to add four hours a day for six bus drivers for additional cleaning of schools, nearly $39,000 for daily disinfection of the district’s 26 buses, and almost $31,000 for supplies like spray equipment, cleaning products and masks. Almost $58,000 toward insurance adjustments is also included, in anticipation of more spouses joining the staff’s plans in the event of job losses.
Joan Guild, president of the MSAD 51 Education Association and a Greely High English teacher, expressed concern in part about the impact that staff cuts at Greely Middle could have on class sizes and its Allied Arts program, which includes art, music and physical education. “Class sizes will go to an average of up to 25 in sixth grade,” she said. “Allied Arts are already overcrowded and getting bigger.”
Among the younger grades seeing growing numbers, Guild said, “we urge you to consider Allied Arts staff in correlation with increases in enrollment. As enrollment at MIW (Wilson School) has increased, our music, art and PE teachers have shouldered a burden of these increases without additional staff in these areas.”
Although SAD 51’s in-person district budget meeting – the public’s first vote on the spending plan – is slated for June 25, “we’ve been awaiting the governor to waive this requirement, as she has been indicating for several weeks,” Porter said. He added that Gov. Janet Mills plans to do so, and that in the meeting’s place could be a virtual public hearing on the budget warrant articles.
“This would be a public hearing on informing the public on the warrant articles that the board signs after adopting the budget,” he explained. That meeting could be held closer to the board’s planned June 8 adoption of the budget, instead of as late as June 25, Porter said.
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