MADAWASKA, Maine — Members of Madawaska’s Finance Committee voted unanimously, Monday to recommend a 2016-17 school department budget that calls for an estimated $380,777 increase compared to the current year, despite concerns that such an increase would be objectionable to many voters.
School committee members approved the budget earlier this month.
Committee member Derrick Hebert told School Superintendent Gisele Dionne to be prepared at the town meeting when the school budget is presented to voters to “have some shots fired.”
Committee member Peter Clavette made the motion to recommend the proposed $6,389,209 budget, contingent upon a “rough action plan” for the future of Madawaska’s schools being presented to voters at the same time.
Committee members and Dionne agreed that, in the long term, enrollment projections for Madawaska make it unlikely a stand-alone school in the town could be justified.
This year, the combined population of the elementary, middle and high schools is approximately 440 students, according to Dionne’s data. In 2009 that figure was 654, and by 2026, Dionne predicts that figure will drop to 173 students.
Informal discussions about consolidation with surrounding communities have already begun, but there is no plan in place at this time.
“Madawaska is at that point” of needing to plan for consolidation, said school committee member Tammy Cote. “But the surrounding towns are not.”
During the meeting, Dionne reviewed factors that are contributing to the estimated increase, and discussed the multiple ways the school department has cut costs.
Committee member and town selectman Chad Carter said voters want to feel that their tax dollars are not going “above and beyond” what is needed to give students a good education.
He and others on the committee agreed with Dionne that the public is not always adequately informed about what goes into the school budget or the efforts made to reduce costs.
“A line was drawn in the sand several years ago,” Carter said, referring to the stance voters took on keeping local education taxes down. “That line may not be in the right place.”
In each of the last two years, the local school budget request has been defeated by voters twice at referendum before reduced proposals were finally approved on the third attempt.
Regarding the proposed 2016-17 budget, Dionne reviewed various figures with finance committee members, including more than $333,000 in obligated funds.
This figure makes up the majority of the proposed budget increase and includes largely non-negotiable items, such as workers compensation costs, unemployment insurance, Medicare, contracted wage increases, employer share of benefits and retirement obligations.
Dionne pointed out that teachers are only scheduled to have a 1 percent increase in salary this year, a 2 percent increase next year and no increase in the third year of the current contract. This follows four years of nearly flat pay and “significant” cuts to benefits.
Employer contributions to teacher retirement benefits, which the state had largely paid for previously, are now up to 7.65 percent of salary, said Dionne. Only a few years ago that figure was 2.65 percent.
“This is required by law,” she said. “I cannot control that.”
Dionne estimates that retirement contributions from the department will be $104,000 next year, compared to $82,000 this year.
The committee also reviewed teacher salaries in Madawaska as compared to the entire state.
It is a “fallacy,” Dionne said, to think that Madawaska teachers are the highest paid in the state.
According to current figures, the top teacher at Madawaska with a master’s degree starts at $59,583. The same teachers in Kittery, Wells and Gorham start at more than $60,000, and in Cape Elizabeth it is $74,441.
Reduced state education support goes hand in hand with increasing obligated expenses, Dionne said.
“The state is clearly pushing costs to local schools and communities,” she said.
Dionne also went over several things the department has done in recent years to reduce expenses.
These have included not replacing many retired teachers, reducing both secretarial and cafeteria staffing, requiring more staff to take on multiple tasks and eliminating the positions of assistant superintendent, transportation director and cafeteria manager.
For taxpayers and property owners, the new budget proposal would require between a 1.5- and 2-mill rate increase.
Clavette asked Dionne what she would do if next year ended with a surplus.
“Would you give that one or two mill back to the taxpayers?” he asked.
Dionne said that, ideally, she would recommend no increase to the mill rate and would retain such surplus funds until the reserve account was once again at a reasonable level.
“This department has made cuts,” she said. “We are doing all we can to control the costs we can.”
Clavette asked if the cuts made in the past several years have affected the learning environment for the students
“I want to say ‘no,’” Dionne replied, adding that the reality may be different in many classrooms.
“We have dedicated teachers,” she said. “We do the best we can with what we have.”
“At the end of the day, it’s about the quality of the education,” finance committee chair Steve Collard said.
“These students have no say in taxes,” Clavette commented, which leaves the decisions to the people on these committees and the voters.
Hebert was concerned that residents will only see the increase in the school budget, and not what is actually behind it.
Dionne responded that her office held multiple public information meetings about the budget, and that she tried to have as transparent a process as possible.
Collard, Clavette and other finance committee members commented that presenting this budget along with a commitment to move forward on a long-term plan for consolidation or addressing the gap between enrollment figures and funding,would go a long way toward voters approving the school budget.
“We want this budget to pass,” Collard said.
Morneault said, “We need to get the message out to the people,” about what went into making this school budget proposal. “People need to inform themselves … and not just from what they hear at the coffee shop.”
No date has yet been set for a public school budget vote or annual town meeting.