Hermon proposed budget up 6 percent

HERMON – The town’s taxpayers likely won’t have to approve much more than they did last year to fund the 2005-06 school budget, Superintendent Patricia Duran said Monday night.

That’s the good news, she said.

The school committee met Monday to review a $10.5 million draft budget that proposes a 6 percent increase over last year’s budget. Under the proposed figures, taxpayers would be asked to approve approximately $1.5 million in local funding.

“There are still a lot of unknowns in this formula,” Duran said, including the amount of tuition revenue and carry-over funds from this year’s budget.

The bad news is that the school committee must contend with how to meet the requirements of Essential Programs and Services, a new education funding formula that determines the state allocation for each school in Maine.

Under the new system, all schools will receive at least as much state support as they did last year, but some districts will fare better than others.

Hermon will receive $4,135,000 in state subsidy for the 2005-06 year, up approximately $400,000 from last year, Duran said after Monday’s meeting.

Any programs deemed unessential under the model must be approved by residents at a town meeting, which could lead to cuts in funding for librarians, athletics and other programs, Duran said.

EPS recognizes the need for a librarian only with a minimum of 800 students, she said. In Hermon, there are 600 students in the middle school and elementary school combined, Duran said.

“I don’t believe that Hermon believes [the state’s quota] is appropriate,” she said.

One full-time librarian now serves both schools.

Athletes also could feel the pinch under the new state model, as EPS allows $97 to be spent annually on athletics per student in the ninth through 12th grades, Duran said. That adds up to $24,250 to fund all of Hermon’s high school students, she said.

EPS has been touted as a way to support the programs that students need most to be successful, Duran said. In reality, however, the program is designed to save money, she said.

“EPS is a cost containment,” she said.

The final school budget will be presented to the Town Council on March 3.