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Superintendent Ray outlines $1.6 million budget increase as Saco faces $514,000 state subsidy loss
Summary
Superintendent Ray presented a proposed Saco Public Schools operating budget with a $1.6 million increase driven largely by salary and benefits; he said the district faces a roughly $514,000 reduction in additional state subsidy because local property valuation rose and explained plans to apply carryover funds to repay the city fund balance and to fund a building study.
Superintendent Ray presented the Saco Public Schools proposed operating budget and warned the committee the district is facing a reduction in state subsidy tied to local property-valuation growth.
“We had a situation where we didn't really commit that to any said cost that was in the budget,” Ray said, and later noted, “Saco lost $514,000 of additional state subsidy.” He told the board that the district received about $1.6 million in additional state funds last year, of which roughly $1,000,000 remains available to help smooth the next budget cycle and about $300,000 was already applied to this year’s building-study work.
Why it matters: The state ED 279 funding formula uses student counts, staff ratios and regional adjustments; rising local property valuation reduces the state share of education funding and shifts more of the tax burden locally. Ray walked the committee through the ED 279 worksheets, showing how student EPS rates, disadvantage weights and regional factors flow into the district’s allocation.
Key details: Ray said about $1.1 million of the proposed $1.6 million increase is for salary and benefits, with health-insurance assumptions modeled at 10 percent to be conservative. The presentation highlighted several proposed additions and re-allocations in the operating budget: a resiliency coordinator at Saco Middle School (SMS), a halftime homeless liaison supported by grant funding, moving an added PASS program to Fairfield School, restoring a full-time social worker at CK Burns (0.8 to 1.0 FTE), and reassigning some special-education staff to support an alternative-education program at SMS. The superintendent also discussed a planned SRO allocation that would place three-quarters of a school resource officer’s salary on the school budget because most of the time would be spent with students.
Staffing and efficiency moves: Ray explained the proposal to reduce four unfilled educational technician (ed-tech) positions in the budget to a baseline of roughly 78–79 positions with the initial plan to fill about 75 positions, keeping a small buffer for move-ins and students who need services. He told the board the current authorized ed-tech line shows about 83 positions but that historically the district fills nearer to 73.
Program and revenue notes: The superintendent said changes in the disadvantage-rate calculation and how the state averages participation (a three-year high used this cycle) will affect future subsidy calculations. He also noted an $81,000 adjustment the district received related to a previously approved lease and reiterated the district will continue to pursue grant funding (for example, a John T. Gorman Foundation application sponsored by SACCOSTeAM) to support student needs such as food and housing assistance.
Next steps: Ray recommended a board workshop before the March 28 city presentation and said the district expects to receive final health-insurance numbers in late March; the board aims to adopt the budget at its first April meeting once those figures are confirmed.
Provenance: Budget presentation and related Q&A, SEG 317 through SEG 1200.
