Veazie residents unhappy with school budget cuts

VEAZIE – Residents voiced strong discontent at Monday night’s council meeting over cuts made to the proposed school budget.

During the 90-minute meeting, members of the standing-room-only crowd stressed that education was not the side of the budget to be reduced.

“You’re cutting things from the children to have a bigger, better municipal side,” Ann Kenny said.

At $3,021,536, the proposed school budget presented Monday night represents a drop of $102,973 from the previous proposed budget and a balance of $20,000 that can be carried forward from this year, according to Superintendent Thomas Perry. This figure is 3 percent less than the original proposed budget, he said.

The proposed cuts were made to help offset the decrease of $202,003, or 16.52 percent, in state education aid, Perry said.

Among the proposed cuts, the reduction of a middle school teaching position sparked some concern and debate. The original budget already proposed to cut a kindergarten teaching position.

“I don’t think it’s a positive budget when you’re cutting school positions,” Todd Lynch said.

Other proposed changes include the reduction of instructional equipment and textbooks as well as postponement of some technology purchases and capital improvements to the school, Perry said.

The effects of the cuts could become more problematic if enrollment changes, he said.

“I think one of the things we lost … is the flexibility to address unanticipated class sizes or teacher needs,” Perry said.

While the new proposed cuts would mean a mill rate increase from 16.5 per $1,000 to 17.7, instead of the predicted 19.5, the school committee couldn’t cut any more without seriously affecting the quality of education, according to committee chair Becky Wetherbee.

“Literally, we drew the line in the sand with this budget,” Wetherbee said.

A public hearing will be held on the budget at 7 p.m. Monday, May 19, in council chambers.