SAD 33 residents approve $3.3M budget

ST. AGATHA – It took 17 residents from St. Agatha and Frenchville less than 10 minutes Wednesday night to approve a $3.375 million budget to operate SAD 33 schools for 2004-2005.

Mary Michaud moderated the session where not one question was asked about the budget, according to Superintendent Fern Desjardins.

The $3,375,789 budget is $29,961 lower than the current budget of $3,405,750. The local share of the budget, $1,085,696, remains the same as the present year.

The state’s share of the overall budget is $1,590,657.

The remainder of the budget, $690,000, comes from other sources, including tuition from Sinclair, technology education income, federal reimbursements, contracted services and a balance from this year.

SAD 33 operates three schools: the Dr. Levesque Elementary School at Frenchville, Wisdom High School at St. Agatha and the St. John Valley Technology Center at Frenchville. The technology center also serves students from SAD 27 at Fort Kent and the Madawaska School Department.

SAD 33 had a cut in state funds for next year of about $54,538.

Changes had to be made, according to Desjardins.

Changes included cutting French at the high school to a half-time position and eliminating a part-time business position. The district also is contracting out the services of its director of instruction to two other school units.

Frenchville pays 48.1 percent of the local share, $522,654, and St. Agatha pays 51.9 percent, $563,042. Included in those figures is SAD 33’s 15 percent share of the technology center budget, $101,170 of $674,467.

Last year, Frenchville paid 47.1 percent of the bill to St. Agatha’s 52.6 percent. The percentage change will cost Frenchville $7,926 while St. Agatha will save that amount.

The local percentage of the budget is figured using the town’s state valuation. The state valuation for Frenchville is $37,125,000, and St. Agatha is valued at $40,000,000.

The district educates 191 pupils in kindergarten through grade six and 154 students in grades seven through 12. The numbers include 60 special education students and 10 tuition students from Sinclair.