By Wayne E. Rivet

Staff Writer

FRYEBURG — SAD 72 now has a proposed budget in place, but Superintendent Jay Robinson has a big question left to answer — when and how does this financial package go to the voters?

“For our district, which requires a district budget meeting only and not the budget-validation referendum, our next step is to find out when we can hold such a meeting,” Robinson said following last week’s unanimous vote by the SAD 72 School Board to move forward the proposed budget. “We are awaiting guidance from the state and will plan that meeting as soon as we are able.”

The 32-minute virtual meeting last Wednesday (May 6) resulted in directors moving forward a $21,445,159.27 budget that represents a 3.28% increase (up $681,896).

Receiving the most discussion was the elimination of a seventh grade teacher to account for the “very low enrollment in the grade level (55 students),” according to Superintendent Robinson’s summary report.

Mary Welch argued to maintain the four-person team as a matter of consistency, especially following changes forced by COVID-19. She also noted that the change would ask teachers to teach a class outside of their content area, resulting in more time needed to plan lessons.

“Since the future is unknown, it may be best to keep things the same, as stable as possible,” she said.

Robinson responded, “There comes a point you look at class sizes and make a decision. 18-1 is not unreasonable.”

Robinson noted that the change was recommended by administration, and tough decisions had to be made in trying financial times.

In a summary report, Robinson outlined key points of this proposed budget:

• Investments in students and families through expansion of pre-kindergarten by two classrooms (one at Molly Ockett and one at New Suncook) to better prepare students behaviorally, socially, emotionally and academically.

“The amount we will be spending on pre-kindergarten programming ($120,000) is much less than we will be receiving from the state to run the program ($258,000). This will create a surplus of $138,000 to offset other educational costs,” Robinson reported. “In addition, our ‘Head Start’ partners’ financial contribution of $284,000 far exceeds what the district will be paying for the expanded programming.”

SAD 72 will create a “Care Team” to help support students, families and staff in dealing with behavioral, emotional and attendance issues.

• A salary increase of 3% for all teaching staff.

• A 4.8% increase in health-insurance costs over last year’s premiums.

• An increase in the secondary tuition caused by a projected increase in maximum allowable tuition of 4% and an increase in students (30).

•  The addition of a licensed clinical social worker to support teachers, students and families.

• One educational technician at Molly Ockett to support alternative programming.

• One educational technician at Denmark to provide behavioral support.

• One educational technician at New Suncook to provide behavioral support.

• The budget eliminates one seventh grade teacher and one alternative education teacher in Grades 5-8 (transitioned to student support K-4).

Some breakdowns:

Cost Centers 

(Budgeted amount/percentage of the overall SAD 72 budget)

Instruction — $10,222,062, 47.67%

Special Education — $4,861,094, 22.67%. This line is up $79,536 or 1.81%. Robinson noted that in special education, “everything is driven by student needs.” 

“That is generally the cause of the major budget-to-budget fluctuations that occur in many years,” he reported.

Other Instruction — $229,885, 1.07%. This line includes co-curricular ($94,290, down $5,625), summer school ($7890, down $593) and transportation ($127,705, up $16,023). Total increase of $9,805. The budget includes the Jump Start program for incoming kindergarten students ($6,480) in lieu of previous delivery of summer school; adjustments to transportation based upon actual/projected trips.

Student and Staff Support — $1,002,921, 4.68%. This line is down $20,614. Key elements include:

• Guidance is up $13,667 due to the addition of a .4FTE guidance position for BDES ($16,500).

• Technology was cut back $20,546; however, the district will allocate the following funding — lease payment (four year) of $18,000 for 100 Mac Airs; $4,500 for 15 iPads; $40,000 in online subscriptions to support learning; $12,000 in infrastructure upgrades (access points, network card); $8,500 to replace end-of-life copiers; $2,050 for one short-throw projector at BDES for music.

• In Improvement to Instruction, the stipends break down as follows: use of Title II to cover $5,000, which is down from $10,000.

System Administration — $525,807, 2.45%. This line is down $2,832. This budget represents a 3% increase in administrative salaries and the agreed-upon increase for non-contractual employees; and $4914 to perform background checks on potential volunteers.

School Administration — $540,373, 2.52%.  Line increase of $30,713 or 6.02%:

• 3% hike in administrative salaries along with the PVSSA increases per the contract for the secretarial staff;

• The New Suncook administrative salaries increased due to $13,700 shifted from GT back to this line. Terri Mahanor has increased her support for GT programming and is supporting professional development for math instructors in Grades 5-8, which accounts for the shift.

• Increase in Brownfield-Denmark Elementary School administrative salaries is due to an increase of $3,000 to the stipend, which more accurately reflects the additional responsibilities and time commitment.

Transportation and Buses — $1,594,482, 7.44%. This line is down $31,988. The budget includes request for a new bus, $90,000 (to replace one that is 14 years old).

Robinson also noted This budget includes one in-district special education driver’s wages and benefits. Her wages include money required to support in-district special-education programming. All other driver costs (field trips, co/extra-curricular trips, etc.) are being covered by Bennett Transportation. 

Per the contract with Bennett Transportation, per-mile costs for busses increased by six cents per mile for district-owned busses, and costs for vans increased by eight cents per mile for district-owned vans, which adds slightly to transportation costs. 

Facilities — $1,008,414, 4.70%. Increase of $11,550. The budget includes a 3% salary increase for all categories of employees. Smaller scale repairs (carpeting, bathroom flooring, etc.) have been completed during the closure, so those were removed from the proposed budget. A warrant article will be added to fund the purchase a new truck and sander, roof repairs at New Suncook, and new doors that will be paid for using money available in minor capital improvements ($67,000) to reduce the demand on taxpayers.

Debt Service — $1,385,121, 6.46%. This figure represents a $12,330 decrease from last year. The state will pay $1,199,203 under the debt service “circuit breaker” while town share is $185,919 as follows:

Brownfield — $277,502, no town share

Denmark — $119,811, town share $46,690

Fryeburg — $618,262, no town share

Lovell — $66,947, town share $109,699

Stoneham — $22,743, town share $14,257

Stow — $57,291, no town share

Sweden — $36,647, town share $15,273

Food Service — $75,000, 0.35%. 

Total: $21,445,159

Town Assessments

Brownfield — $1,996,143.70, down $88,250.06 or 4.23%

Denmark — $2,356,176.72, up $57,114.71 or 2.48%

Fryeburg — $4,086,970.83, down $235,111.24 or 5.44%

Lovell — $2,805,185.08, down $73,055.93 or 2.54%

Stoneham — $543,076.27, up $20,026.90 or 3.83%

Stow — $494,097.10, down $24,255.66 or 4.68%

Sweden — $738,778.05, up $42,870.43 or 6.16%

Total — $13,020,428, down $300,661 or 2.26%.