RSU 05 budget debate centers on proposed ESOL cut, assistant principals and middle‑school staffing

RSU 05 school board members spent much of their March 19 meeting reviewing budget options and hearing public comment on proposed staffing cuts, with multilingual education (ESOL), assistant principals at elementary schools and several fractional middle‑school teaching positions drawing the most attention.

Public comment opened the discussion. Student speaker Rosa Fuma urged the board to keep a multilingual teacher at the high school, telling the board the multilingual program "is a lifeline" for students and families and describing the teacher as "an advocate, a guide, and a constant source of support." Several Moore Street School staff — including teacher Bethany Howard and literacy specialist Melissa Gadbois — described how a full‑time assistant principal has supported special‑education programming, teacher evaluations and behavior interventions. Howard said an assistant principal "is justified at Moore Street, and I do not support the removal of an assistant principal from our budget." ESOL staff and counselors also addressed the board: Freeport High School ESOL teacher Jill Hyland warned a 0.5 reduction in ESOL staffing would make it impossible to provide current levels of direct ESOL instruction and family support, and counselor Liz Pearson asked the board to consider a smaller reduction if cuts were necessary.

Administrators presented the district’s budget rationale and a set of specific options for reductions and restorations. Key figures presented at the meeting included: $146,330 estimated wages and benefits for a full assistant principal position; $295,800 proposed to move from undesignated fund balance into Article 1 reserves to cover Title I‑funded wages and benefits; $618,517 proposed into Article 2 reserves to cover local entitlement costs and out‑of‑district placements; and a $6,000 local increase to fund specific life‑safety items in the capital article. The superintendent noted the district lost 87 students between the 2023 and 2024 counts and said state subsidy decreased by about $207,000 as a result.

District presenters described options for middle‑school schedules and staffing that would preserve science and STEM time while changing how some unified arts and wellness offerings are delivered. Durham Community School and Freeport Middle School principals explained possible schedule models that shift instructional blocks and use alternation of double‑period science blocks to preserve lab time. The middle‑school administrators said several fractional positions (for example, 0.25 or 0.5 FTE roles) had been proposed for reduction and argued those fractional posts were used for differentiation, RTI/MTSS support and day‑to‑day coverage.

Board members conducted informal straw polls and a series of deliberations rather than taking a formal budget vote. In the course of deliberations the board indicated support in a straw poll for preserving the high‑school ESOL position at full time rather than cutting it to 0.5 FTE; that result was described in the meeting transcript as a board decision reached by poll, not a formal adopted budget. Members also discussed adding back one full teacher equivalent at the middle‑school staffing line (either as a single full teacher or several fractional positions equaling one FTE) and the trade‑offs that choice would have for the district’s year‑over‑year expenditure percentage. The board did not adopt a final budget at the March 19 meeting; the district’s timeline shows a final budget adoption vote is scheduled for next week and a printed taxpayer brochure would be mailed if a final number is set on schedule.

Administrators also noted contingency and reserve options: last year the district used about $900,000 of undesignated fund balance; for the upcoming budget staff proposed using roughly $1,068,000 (which includes funds for a vehicle replacement plan). The superintendent said Title I and other federal funding sources have fluctuated and that moving specified sums into reserve accounts could protect staffing if federal funds were reduced.

What’s next: the board left the budget open for further deliberation at next week’s meeting. Administrators were asked to produce a small set of follow‑up numbers (tax‑impact estimates under several alternative scenarios and detail on the proposed wellness curriculum and unified‑arts schedules) to help the board finalize a recommended budget before publication of the taxpayer brochure and the district’s annual budget meeting.