Finance committee advances MSAD 11 budget with two teaching positions cut

MSAD 11’s finance committee voted to forward a proposed $33,426,900 budget to the full school board, approving a finance-committee recommendation that reflects additional line-item reductions and omits two teaching positions in the scenario sent forward.

The committee vote to send the proposal to Thursday’s full-board meeting passed 3–2. Committee members stressed the decision is procedural: the full board will formally consider the budget, allow amendments and then set the district’s referendum warrant on a statutory schedule.

Business manager Andrea Dish walked members through the numbers and the last round of savings the district identified to reach a smaller overall increase. Dish said additional reductions added since the prior meeting total $128,277 and included lowered cash-in-lieu payments, a $12,700 reduction in curriculum professional services with some items moved to a grant, a $3,762 software quote adjustment, a $5,200 accounting-software credit, a reduction of about $72,943 in special-education transportation costs and a $15,000 decrease in the school-resource-officer allocation. Dish also said the proposed budget scenario being forwarded would result in an overall 1.75% increase to the district budget but, because of the state valuation and how costs pass through to member towns, would translate to roughly a 5.92% school portion passed to the four towns (about $830,700 in total passed to locals under that scenario).

Board members asked for clarification about how a retirement and a cut in a different department were both reflected in planning documents. "We are cutting a filled position and keeping an unfilled position in this line," a speaker explained during the clarification, noting that the district had used planning documents that list positions by expenditure article and that the specific department hit by the reduction was chosen after class sign-ups and planning were reviewed.

Administrators said the district will provide alternate scenarios at the full board meeting on Thursday, including a scenario that retains the middle-school science position. Dish described the alternate with the middle-school position as producing a higher increase (about 1.95% overall and roughly 6.4% passed to locals in that scenario).

Committee members also spent extended time on projected taxpayer impacts under the forwarded scenario. Dish presented examples for home valuations to show local differences: for a $200,000 home the school-share increase in Gardiner would be about $199.25 under the forwarded scenario, while Pittston residents would see a smaller increase and West Gardiner a still-smaller impact due to differing local valuations.

Several members who voted against forwarding the scenario said they preferred a version that included the middle-school position or other restorations and that they planned to advocate for changes at Thursday’s full-board meeting. Proponents argued the committee had asked staff to find reductions that minimized student impact while recognizing local tax pressures.

The finance committee’s vote forwards the recommended scenario to the full MSAD 11 board for Thursday’s meeting; the board will have the opportunity to propose amendments, debate alternatives and then vote to set the budget and prepare the referendum warrant.