SAD 1 anticipates budget shortfall State aid insufficient to maintain programs, school official says

PRESQUE ISLE – SAD 1 officials are preparing for a major budget shortfall as legislators work out the details to increase state aid to education, according to Jeff Bearden, SAD 1 assistant superintendent.

At their Wednesday night meeting, the SAD 1 board of directors received a budget overview which focused almost entirely on LD 1, legislation to increase state aid to education over the course of four years, Bearden said Thursday.

Should LD 1 pass, SAD 1 is supposed to receive a 2.9 percent increase in state aid for 2006, or $428,693 in new state money.

But in order to balance a status quo budget – including the same services, programs and personnel as last year – SAD 1 needs a 4 percent increase, or $732,000.

So despite the increase in state aid to education, SAD 1 will be $303,000 short of what it needs to maintain current operations, the assistant superintendent said.

“If LD 1 passes as it is currently written, the message we need to get out to the community is that there is no property tax relief there for SAD 1 citizens,” Bearden said.

For district officials, that means some important decisions soon may need to be made.

“Do we look at a tax increase? A cut in personnel? A cut in programs and services? A cut in the fund balance like we had last year? Or some combination of all of those?” Bearden queried.

As they ponder these questions, officials are wondering how they ended up in this situation. Last June, voters approved Question 1A, which called for the state to start paying 55 percent of education costs for all communities.

The 55 percent funding formula has been in place since 1985. While voters assumed the approval would mean an immediate increase, LD 1 calls for a phased-in increase over four years.

“The spirit of Question 1A is not going to be realized for four years,” Bearden said.

At the same time, he said, Mainers are being asked to wait again.

“History does not support the promise that is being made,” he said.

“This is disappointing, because it clearly puts more of a burden on local taxpayers in order for schools to be funded adequately for students,” Bearden said.

As SAD 1 awaits word on LD 1, it is moving forward with its budget process. Bearden expected the earliest budget draft to be ready in March.

In other news, the school board:

. Received an update on the Presque Isle Middle School building project. The middle school will replace Skyway and Cunningham middle schools as the district’s only building for sixth- to eighth-grade pupils.

The $5.4 million expansion and renovation of Skyway Middle School is still on schedule as of this week, Superintendent Gehrig Johnson reported Thursday.

Construction crews are putting windows in the new addition as well as sheetrocking the space. Crews completed work on the addition’s roof and now are installing the auditorium ventilation system, the superintendent said.

“The message last night was that the project is on schedule, that it’s still moving along,” Johnson said. “It’s a beehive over there.”

Presque Isle Middle School is slated for completion before the 2005-2006 school year begins. About 500 pupils will attend classes at the school.

. Accepted the resignation of Steve Vance, the district’s technology coordinator. Vance has been a district employee for more than 30 years, seeing the district through all phases of its computer program so far.

“He started from the very first computers we had at the district,” Johnson said. “The program has grown from one part-time person – him – and the first 20 computers we bought to right now, with a six-person department and about 1,500 computers in the district.”

The district shortly will begin the process to replace him. Vance will leave his position at the end of the school year.