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Ellsworth Public Schools presenter outlines FY27 budget: 9.99% local-appropriation estimate, proposed cuts and urgent safety spending
Summary
At a workshop following a special meeting, the district presenter outlined an FY27 budget currently projecting a 9.99% increase in local appropriation, proposed three teaching-position reductions plus an ed-tech cut, a pre-K MOU with Downey's Family YMCA, new CTE offerings and urged an immediate intercom replacement due to safety concerns.
At a workshop following the special meeting, the district presenter walked the board through a revised FY27 budget that the administration said is currently "budget-to-budget at 8.34% over last year" and projects a 9.99% local-appropriation estimate after recent corrections and revenue work.
The presenter said the revised budget adds a first-grade teacher, new math curriculum materials for grades 6–12 and a character-education curriculum for pre-K–9 while also showing a decrease of three teaching positions and one pre-K ed-tech position in the current draft. "Right now, what I can communicate is that we have decreased 1 pre k teacher and 1 pre k ed tech," the presenter said, noting one of the reduced pre-K classrooms would be shifted under an MOU with Downey's Family YMCA; the district would pay a per-student subsidy to the Y.
Special-education adjustments include lower out-of-district tuition estimates after a review of IEPs and an added compliance specialist position that the presenter said is offset by revenue. The presenter also described CTE expansions, including a cooperative-education program and a new firefighting program the district expects to be grant-funded in partnership with the Ellsworth Fire Department.
Facilities and debt pressures factored prominently. The presenter said the district will begin principal payments on a revolving-renovation loan and is considering financing major technology and intercom projects over three to five years. "The intercom system is not safe anymore," she said, urging replacement that the presenter described as a nonnegotiable safety need.
On trade-offs, the presenter stressed that roughly 90% of the budget is fixed costs (salaries, benefits, tuition, utilities), and outlined cuts required to reach different tax-levy targets: about $307,000 to drop the local-appropriation estimate to 8%, $461,000 for 7%, $615,000 for 6% and roughly $769,500 for 5%. When asked how many positions a $300,000 cut might mean, the presenter estimated "3 to 5 more" positions could be affected, and warned that any reduction in force would require negotiations and contract steps under the teachers' agreement.
The presenter said revenue work by staff helped lower the local-appropriation projection and that the district is conservatively estimating uncertain items such as the impact of MaineCare. The board and staff plan additional meetings with the city council and a final presentation next week ahead of votes by both bodies.
