Art classes get cut in SAD 30 budget

LEE – Kindergarten through eighth grade pupils will get no art instruction at SAD 30 under a $3.5 million proposed 2006-07 budget that residents will consider next month, school officials said Tuesday.

The budget represents an $80,225, or 2.3 percent, increase over the budget that will expire on June 30, but even with the increase, the art teacher’s position that represents art education to grade-schoolers had to go, Stephen Mallett, SAD 30 board of directors chairman, said.

“We cut things we didn’t want to cut just because of fixed costs this year,” Mallett said Tuesday. “I didn’t want to cut the teacher’s position, but we didn’t really have a choice. We’re not going to try to put art back in there, either.”

Art will not be a forsaken subject at SAD 30, Mallett said. The art position, which was shared between SAD 30 and Lee Academy in the 2005-06 budget, will be full time at Lee, which SAD 30 pupils attend as tuition students.

Mallett and board Vice Chairman Scott Maxwell blamed fixed salary increases, state unfunded program mandates and rising fuel and heating oil costs for the increase, which remained after board members cut almost $200,000 from the budget during workshop sessions.

“It’s pretty tight. There’s not a lot of room for error in there, with the price of fuel going up and everything,” Maxwell said Tuesday. “We really could use a little more money for maintenance in there. There is always education stuff that you can use.”

“It’s never necessary to cut something except when you need to pass a budget,” Mallett said. “Most of the things the state mandates you do are unfunded.”

The budget meeting will be held June 14, at Mt. Jefferson Junior High School. SAD 30 residents are invited to attend.

SAD 30 serves students from Lee, Springfield, Webster Plantation and Winn. Under the new budget, Winn’s share would drop $4,608 to $203,292, the only decrease. Lee’s share would rise $17,466 to $508,734; Springfield’s from $80,938 to $88,523; and Webster Plantation’s would rise about $300 to $59,518, budget documents state.

“It’s a good budget and we think it’s responsible,” Maxwell said. “It should be fair to the taxpayers.”