OLD ORCHARD BEACH — A proposed $13.8 million Old Orchard Beach school budget for the 2018 fiscal year involves a restructuring that eliminates 9 1/2 educational technician positions and adds instructional staff.

Regional School Unit 23 Superintendent of Schools John Suttie presented the budget at a public forum at Town Hall on Monday night. The proposed budget, he said represents a 3 percent increase from the current year’s budget.

The proposed school budget will raise taxes on a $200,000 home about $52 a year, or $46 a year when factoring in changes in the state homestead tax exemption program. This does not include any changes in the tax rate related to the municipal budget, which has not yet been finalized.

Suttie said the goals of the proposed school budget included restructuring academic programs to raise student achievement, increasing the safety and security of students, maintaining and upgrading heating and cooling systems and increasing local funding of the pre-kindergarten program to offset diminishing state subsidies.

The proposed budget also eliminates 9 1/2 educational technicians and the assistant principal position at Loranger Memorial School, said Suttie.

Despite some staff losses, the proposal would add some new positions, such as the addition of a director of instruction. Suttie said without this position, the district has not had the capacity to address student achievement and standardized test scores.

The new position would be part of the district’s commitment to raising student achievement at all levels in the district.

The proposal also adds a guidance counselor at Loranger Memorial School, a kindergarten through eighth-grade behavioral specialist, and two academic interventionists who would be certified teachers in the areas of literacy and mathematics. Funding for playground equipment and leasing three busses and three vans is also included in the proposed budget.

Suttie said research shows that with more certified teaching staff, higher student achievement occurs. He said he felt it was time for the district to move away from the “ed tech model” and toward the “certified staff model.”

RSU Board Chairman David Boudreau said a lot of hard work went into preparing the budget.

“It’s lean and mean,” he said. “It’s going to get the job done.”

Suttie said the negative fund balance the school has been carrying for the past few years will be “erased” at the end of the current fiscal year as school officials have worked to eliminate the district’s debt.

“We accomplished this very, very difficult task folks, with very sound decision making and great team work,” said Suttie. “We are in a much more fiscally healthy state than we were 12 months ago.”

The School Board will vote on the budget proposal on May 9. After the board approves the proposal, it will then go to a public budget meeting for a vote by citizens at 6 p.m. May 18 at the Old Orchard Beach High School cafeteria. The budget will go for a final vote at town-wide referendum on June 13.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].