SAD 56 budget going to voters once again Districtwide meeting Tuesday in Frankfort

SEARSPORT – SAD 56 officials hope to persuade voters to support the additional local share portion of the proposed 2005-06 budget at Tuesday’s district budget meeting at the Frankfort Elementary School.

Collectively, residents in Searsport, Stockton Springs and Frankfort voted June 14 to accept the budget. But the article, which raised the additional local share of $2.1 million – which matches state funding and other local funding – was defeated.

The additional local share article was defeated in Searsport and Stockton Springs but won approval in Frankfort.

At Tuesday’s meeting, which begins at 7 p.m., residents from the district towns will take up only the failed article. District officials have said they will ask residents to reconsider the same amount that was shot down at the polls.

The gross budget proposed by the school board is $9.4 million, up $842,456, or 9.8 percent, over the 2004-05 spending plan.

SAD 56 business manager Brian MacFarland said Friday the gross budget is affected by a $200,000 payment on the renovated high school and middle school.

The state paid the interest on the loan for the $5 million project in the first year after the construction, and the nonprofit local booster group Save Our Schools raised funds to pay the next two years.

The state will reimburse the district the $200,000 it must pay toward the construction project, but that revenue won’t show up until next year, MacFarland said.

Another factor affecting the budget is the cost of health insurance for administrators, teachers and staff. Blue Cross premiums have increased 11.5 percent, he said, resulting in a cost hike of more than $100,000.

Other additions to the budget include:

. Half-time art teacher for Searsport District Middle School at $18,246.

. Increased staff benefits for a program for 4-year-olds at $38,000.

. Quarter-time technology integration specialist for elementary schools at $15,610.

. Half-time gifted and talented teacher at $39,068.

. Full-time second-grade teacher at Frankfort Elementary School at $41,494.

. Full-time fifth-grade teacher at Frankfort at $43,874.

. Increasing the secretary at Frankfort from half time to full time at $14,173.

. Full-time technology assistant at $42,888.

. Full-time curriculum coordination secretary at $36,933.

MacFarland said the gifted and talented program is mandated. The fifth-grade teacher position was added because Frankfort parents did not want to see the fourth and fifth grades combined into one class.

The elementary technology specialist had been paid for by federal funds, which are no longer available, he said. Federal funds also paid for the second-grade teacher at Frankfort, but that money also was cut.

And when the district’s curriculum coordinator retired, Superintendent Mary Szwec agreed to take on the job, but with the assistance of a full-time secretary.

The total local share of the budget is $4.9 million, up $493,810, or 11 percent, over the 2004-05 budget.

Broken down by communities, the local share is up 9.4 percent in Frankfort, 9.5 percent in Searsport and 14.3 percent in Stockton Springs.

MacFarland said those attending the meeting can amend the additional local share article to raise more or less money or keep it at the amount recommended by the school board.

In an unrelated matter, MacFarland reported bids on a roof repair project at the old portion of the high school and middle school, which was approved by voters at the polls, have come in higher than the $500,000 estimated by the district’s architect. The district plans to pay for the work using the state’s revolving loan program.