In a reversal from last year, when the three school districts serving the towns surrounding Sebago Lake received significant aid cuts from the state, this year things are looking better.

Windham-Raymond, Lake Region and Bonny Eagle were among the winners in this week’s announcement from state education officials, as all three districts are set to receive subsidies greater than the amount they received a year ago, according to preliminary state figures.

Local school officials are not celebrating yet, however, citing the budget problems at the state level, and the tenuous nature of school funding.

Still, the numbers look good so far.

School Administrative District 61, which covers Casco, Naples, Bridgton and Sebago, is slated to receive an additional $902,000 of state subsidy, for a total subsidy of around $1.7 million, which is more than double the $834,000 the system received from the state last year, said Superintendent Kathleen Beecher.

The increase reverses seven previous years of declines in state subsidy to the district, Beecher said, that averaged $701,000 each year. At $834,000, the system was a minimum receiver last year due to how the state calculated subsidy using student enrollment and property assessments. If a district is below state average on those two fronts, it will receive less state aid. If it has higher-than-average enrollment and lower property values compared to the state average, a district would receive more state aid.

With many lakeside homes, the state’s calculations regarding SAD 61 routinely pegged the four towns as rich towns, though year-round residents in homes away from the water routinely protested at public hearings last year that the state mischaracterized the region. This year, partly because of protests from similar districts, the state retooled its funding formula to also take into account the number of students qualifying for free and reduced lunch.

“Basically, they’ve readjusted the Essential Programs and Services funding model and they’ve allowed for a column for economically disadvantaged,” Beecher explained. “If the district is over what the state feels is average, and because we are over that state average, we are the biggest receiver of this change where they are giving some credit for the economically disadvantaged, which is the percentage of students who receive free and reduced lunch in the district.”

SAD 61’s total budget this year is $26,866,000. While that number may fluctuate depending on what the School Board approves and residents validate – a process that took three tries last year – local taxpayers will still pay about $25 million for education.

In the Windham-Raymond RSU 14 system, the story is similar, though state subsidy is considerably more.

If the state holds to its funding forecast – a tenuous prospect considering the ongoing debate in Augusta about how best to deal with a $200-plus million social services shortfall this coming year – Windham-Raymond would receive an additional $530,306 on top of the $13,767,527 it received from Augusta last year, said Assistant Superintendent Donn Davis.

Windham-Raymond’s total budget for the current school year is $37,961,648. Windham receives more from the state partly due to Windham’s assessed property valuation and sizable student enrollment as a percentage of the total population. (State figures are used to determine property value and student enrollment. So, while the town slashed assessed home values by 10 percent last year, that move did not factor into subsidy calculations.)

The $500,000 is a welcome bonus, cautiously optimistic school officials say, as Windham-Raymond enters this year’s budget cycle.

“That is good news if it holds through to the end, but it’s very preliminary,” Davis said. “I think a lot of school systems are in a place where they have declining enrollments as opposed to increasing enrollments. We don’t have, per se, increasing enrollments, but it’s creeping up slowly as opposed to going the other way. And the money is meant to follow the children, predominantly.”

At SAD 6, which covers Standish, Hollis, Buxton, Frye Island and Limington, Superintendent Frank Sherburne said the school district expects to receive $20,480,374 next year in state subsidy, an increase of $248,000. The district’s total budget for the 2011-2012 school year is $42.5 million.

“It’s still not great, but it’s better than a lot of other districts,” said Sherburne. “I’m still holding my breath though. These are preliminary numbers and, in my experience, this number typically goes down. It doesn’t go up. And I think there’s still a lot out there in Augusta to be determined. There are a lot of unanswered questions that could have a pretty serious impact on general purpose aid.”

All three districts are just entering the budget season, and Sherburne predicts another difficult cycle. Things can change quickly, he said. As an example, the superintendent cited a change in Medicaid reimbursement that dropped funding for the district from $513,600 in 2009 to $30,800 last year.

“I think we’re in for a struggle,” he said. “Not just our district, but all districts. As revenue gets tighter, the challenges do become greater.”