Superintendent outlines $2.5 million local increase, warns of thin reserves ahead of May 12 Lewiston referendum

Jake Langas, superintendent of Lewiston Public Schools, presented the district's proposed FY27 budget to community members and urged turnout for a May 12 referendum, saying the proposal reflects rising costs and tight reserves.

Langas said the local portion of the budget would increase by about $2.5 million year to year, or roughly 8.06% locally. He described several large cost drivers: special education expansion, a 43% rise in transportation costs tied to a new contract, a roughly 95% increase in utilities after a favorable multi‑year rate expired, and an $892,000 jump in workers' compensation driven by actuarial calculations under the district's self‑insured arrangement with the city.

The superintendent listed several budget adjustments the district made during the process. "We deferred $111,000 worth of facilities projects," Langas said, and he said staff discovered a duplicated line in a junior ROC program that freed about $72,000. He also said a conservative health‑insurance projection early in the process later improved and allowed the district to reduce more than $1 million from earlier estimates.

Langas said a state change to the ED279 funding formula will bring a "bridge year supplemental" payment of $500,760 to the district. "About 70% of our budget is subsidized by state dollars," he said, adding the state subsidy drives most of the district's funding calculations.

On staffing, Langas said the proposed budget includes 26 reduced positions after committee deliberations, down from 30 earlier in the process, with some add‑backs approved by the school committee. He described hiring challenges that left some approved roles vacant and said the district had made reductions where positions had no applicants.

To reduce the immediate taxpayer burden the district proposes using $3.5 million of $7.1 million in unassigned funds, Langas said. "We chose half so that next year we will be able to do the same thing or if we have something catastrophic come up ... we have resources to try to bridge that gap," he said, while warning that using that reserve now would leave very little fund balance for the next year.

Langas also flagged uncertainty on the tax impact because the city is still finalizing a revaluation and mill‑rate decisions. "We can't tell people what specific mill rate will be used for a calculation," he said, and he urged voters to consider those uncertainties when they go to the May 12 referendum.

During a community Q&A Langas answered questions about late buses tied to the 21st Century grant program, administrative costs (which he said are lower than many Maine districts), and rumors such as classroom flags being absent. He rejected proposals to close buildings, saying Lewiston's enrollment is steady and class sizes are often in the 20s: "If we closed one of our schools, no other schools would be able to take in the number of students that would need to be placed there," he said.

Langas closed by highlighting district successes — the middle school was taken off a state list of failing schools after recent improvements, multilingual services tested 143 students this year, the Climb program grew from roughly a dozen to over 40 students, and career‑technical teams won state and national awards — and again urged community members to vote in the referendum.

The district will accept questions by email or through the central office, and Langas said staff will try to respond before the May 12 referendum.