WESTBROOK – Taxpayers can expect to foot a little more of the school budget next school year. Superintendent Peter Lancia presented to the school finance committee his initial 2018-2019 school budget March 14. The $38.5 million spending plan represents a $2.2 million, or 6.2 percent increase over the current school budget, which runs through June 30. The amount of the budget supported by tax dollars is expected to climb 5.25 percent from $19.3 million for the current school year to $20.3 million for the 2018-2019 school year.

The budget is far from finalized and will continue to be reviewed by school board members until early April when the public will have a chance to weigh in on it at a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 4.

The budget, Lancia said, is built with the whole child in mind and take into account both the academic and social/emotional needs of Westbrook students by looking at test scores and results from the Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey. 

The spending plan aims to improve the school experience for students in three areas: innovative learning, student support services and security/capital improvements. In terms of innovative learning, Lancia said he is looking to continue the district’s work on proficiency-based education, a push to better science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) instruction, elementary and middle school reading and middle school math instruction, as well as keeping class sizes reasonable (16 to 18 students at the elementary schools and mid-20s at the middle and high school).

To improve student services, if the funding can be found, Lancia would like to expand social worker services at the high school so there is “direct clinical support for all students.” Right now there is one social worker at the high school, whose hands are full dealing with special education students’ individualized education plans. He would also like to expand the alternative education program, intervention support services and the English language learner program.

Lancia and other school leaders eye additional security improvements at the city’s five schools, as well as an additional student resource officer in the district, upgraded furniture, improved playspaces, new wellness initiatives for students and staff, as well as possible restructuring of how school human resources is handled by ending the mutual agreement the district has to share human resource functions with the city.

“This is what, as school leaders, we feel we need in order to move our district forward,” Lancia said, adding that a lot of worthwhile initiatives were left out of the budget.

As in previous years, Lancia said the challenges to the budget were the increasing cost of employee benefits and contract obligations and debt service. The first payment ($900,000) of the middle school/Saccarappa Elementary School projects is due in fiscal year 2019 as is the $120,000 bond payment for the new roof at Canal Elementary School.

Westbrook School Department is expecting to receive $17.3 million in state funding, a $1.7 million increase from the current year. The state aid includes $14.8 million in general purpose aid, $2.4 million in career and technical education funding for Westbrook Regional Vocational Center and $56,000 for being part of a regional service center.

The regional service center, a joint venture with the Sebago Alliance 2.0 to share professional development services, substitute teacher hiring and recruitment, English Language Learner intake and bulk food service purchasing, has not been officially set up yet. The deadline for the second part of the application process is due April 15, but school leaders from Gorham, Westbrook, Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth, South Portland, Portland, Bonny Eagle and Windham school departments, which make up Sebago Alliance 2.0, are supportive of the effort. Before the arrangement could be secured, it would have to gain the approval of the state Board of Education, the individual school committees and finally, the voters.

The extra aid from the state was expected to be closer to $2.7 million, but that figure has been reduced because the state had been using faulty pre-kindergarten enrollment projection numbers.

School finance committee chairman Veronica Bates said because the state funding will be less than originally hoped, “it looks like we will have a little bit of work cut out for us this year. We aren’t getting the lovely windfall we thought we were getting, so we have some work to do.”

The committee will spend the next several few weeks reviewing the school budgets department by department. That schedule was set to begin March 15 with a review of the budgets for the elementary schools, middle school, Westbrook Regional Vocation Center, art, music, English as a second language and special education. School Committee Chairman Jim Violette said on March 22, the committee will review the budgets for the high school, athletics/activities, technology, transportation, maintenance, utilities, benefits, central office and the Westbrook Performing Arts Center. Additional review of departmental budgets will continue Wednesday, March 28 and, if needed, Wednesday, April 4. Those meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in Room 114 at the high school.

Violette said a public hearing of the school budget will take place April 4 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 114. Following the public hearing, the school board will have its first reading on the budget. The second reading and adoption of the school budget will take place 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 11. The budget will then be presented to the city council for their review at the council’s April 12 meeting.

The city council’s finance committee also has a busy schedule in the coming weeks. On Monday, April 2, the initial municipal budget will be presented and then forwarded to the finance committee for its review. On Saturday, April 7,  beginning at 9 a.m. the finance committee, chaired by Anna Turcotte, will review the departmental budgets of assessing, social services, community services, general assistance, police, fire, dispatch/information technology and public services/engineering/streets/refuse/fleet maintenance and cemeteries. The following Monday, beginning at 6:30 p.m., the committee will review the budgets of the Walker Memorial Library, planning and code enforcement, mayor’s office/ memberships/legal/economic development and marketing, human resources and city clerk/elections. The finance committee will convene prior to the council meeting on Monday, April 23 for a final review of departmental budgets before passing it on for council review later that evening.

The first reading of the municipal budget will take place in a special city council session on Monday, April 30 at 7 p.m, with second reading and adoption of the fiscal year 2019 budget a week later on Monday, May 7.

The school budget validation vote is scheduled to coincide with the statewide primary election on Tuesday, June 12.

Michael Kelley can be contacted at 781-3661 x 125 or [email protected]