RSU 04 receives FY27 budget workshop; board weighs special-education reserve and targeted staff changes

RSU 04 officials presented an initial FY27 budget Wednesday that would raise the district's operating spending modestly while seeking to preserve programming and limit tax pressure.

In a presentation to the board, district staff outlined a superintendent's proposal that the district's overall regular-instruction cost center would total about $8.2 million while the special-education cost center would reach roughly $5.5 million. Presenter stated the proposed overall increase on the expenditure side is 1.42% year over year and that the district intends to use some fund balance to temper the tax-rate impact.

Why it matters: the budget reflects a mix of structural pressures (declining enrollment and rising benefit costs) and program-driven increases (special-education outplacements and behavioral day-treatment services). Board members were asked for direction by March 11 on whether to create a $75,000 special-education reserve account funded from the district's fund balance to smooth spikes in out-of-district tuition without increasing the general-fund percentage for taxpayers.

Key details

District staff told the board the district has lost 179 students between 2019 and 2025, a decline they said equates to about $158,549 in state subsidy under the ED279 two-year averaging the state uses to compute subsidy. "From 2019 to 2025, we've had a decline of 179 students," Presenter said during the enrollment discussion.

To hold programming while managing cost growth, the superintendent's proposed budget includes four staff reductions (a central-office data specialist, an Oak Hill High School interventionist, a seventh-grade ELA teacher at Oak Hill Middle School, and a Libby Tozier special-education teacher) and about $53,000 of reduced discretionary requests. The presenter described reallocations in staffing and coding (for example, billing portions of gifted-and-talented staff differently) as ways to preserve services while improving future funding returns.

Benefits and insurance

The budget assumes a 15% increase in health-insurance premiums and includes employer-paid paid-family-medical-leave (PFML) costs. District staff estimated the employer portion of PFML in the general fund at roughly $52,000 and said staff health-plan election choices this year reduced the apparent premium impact relative to prior years.

Special education pressures and a proposed reserve

Administrators flagged two special-education cost drivers: sharply rising behavioral day-treatment costs and increasing private out-of-district tuition. The two private outplacement lines together show an approximate increase of $93,500 year over year. Justin (district special-education staff) explained approximately 62% of certain outplacement costs are covered by MaineCare with the district responsible for the remainder; the Department of Education pays upfront and later withholds the MaineCare share from subsidy.

To limit upward swings to the general-fund percentage, staff proposed either reallocating $75,000 into the outplacement lines or creating a $75,000 special-education reserve account funded from fund balance. Presenter said the audit is not yet final but estimated available fund balance around $1.3 million and expressed comfort with a $75,000 allocation.

Program changes and examples

The presentation described one repurposing proposal: converting a fourth-grade position into a shared unified-arts STEM teacher split between Carrie Ricker and Libby Tozier to provide early STEM instruction while maintaining overall staffing levels. Staff also described moving some software budgets from a central technology cost center into school-level instructional lines to reflect where those tools are used.

Next steps

Board members requested several data points for the next meeting, including salary-and-benefits by cost center and more detail on ShareCenter usage following that organization's announced closure. The board asked for a decision or clear guidance on the special-education reserve account by the March 11 meeting so staff can prepare the required materials for the district-wide vote; the board aims to finalize the budget around mid-March.

The district will hold additional budget workshops in March covering remaining cost centers and revenue items before the planned board budget vote.