RSU 16 Faces Budget Challenge - Encourages Community Input

By Tammy Potter
     
     MECHANIC FALLS – School Superintendent Dennis Duquette and School board chairman Dave Griffiths led a special meeting of the RSU 16 School Board Committee January 27th to share with the more than 75 in attendance the huge funding shortfall the district is facing in the upcoming years.
     
     Duquette said Augusta described the loss of revenues over the next three years for education with a geographical example, saying the cuts in funding for the 2009/2010 school year is like Evan’s Notch at about $319,500.
     
     "These cuts where met by the district restructuring and existing personnel taking four unpaid furlough days", to the tune of $175,000,” explained Duquette.
     
     “The 2010/2011 fiscal school year cuts are like Tuckerman’s Ravine and the 2011/2012 school year is comparable to the Grand Canyon at 1.6 million,” he explained.
     
     He said these numbers are not meant to scare anyone, but they are reality. "The cuts are the worst we have seen in 70 years", said Dave Griffiths, chair of the school committee.
     
     Over the last three years since Duquette has become the superintendent of this region, school officials have cut 32 teaching positions, 24 of which were since last spring. More cuts will be needed in order to meet the upcoming shortfalls, officials said. Discussion of ways to meet this challenge included merging the middle schools of the three communities of Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls; cutting 15-20 more teaching positions; closing the central administration office; restructuring maintenance and custodial personnel; changing class sizes; and changing programs and classes offered.
     
     Sharing resources and streamlining more need to be part of long term goals, they said and getting the community more involved is also high on the list of things that need to be done. The budget committee is going to begin working on the budget on February 1 and will organize meetings to get the community's input.
     
     Listening sessions, coffee hours and meeting with town managers and selectmen are some things that will be scheduled in February so community members have the opportunity to express ideas and solutions to the budget crisis.
     
     The school board aims to have the budget finished by March 1 and available for public review and reaction. This would allow for changes to be made prior to the vote in May.
     
     Duquette began his power point presentation by saying that in order to get the budget to work the district needs to consider how it delivers education, what its mission is and it needs to make some immediate, dramatic and “impactful” changes.
     
     "We do not have any other choice", he empahasized.
     
     The office of the superintendent as well as the school board has an “open door policy” and any community member is welcome to call, email or drop a line anytime.
     
     Griffiths also pointed out that these decisions and changes don’t need to be permanent.
     
     "These need to be done to get us through the hard times, but our legislators know that education is a very high priority and they will put the money needed into the education of our children again as soon as the economy turns around," said Griffiths.
     
     The challenges the district is up against, however, includes revenue reduction of $800,000 for the 2010/2011 school year, an increase in wages and benefits (due to rising insurance costs), a poor economy and a no tax increase promise.
     
     Duquette was optimistic that the district could keep and develop the needed programs, by being more efficient and focusing on what is good about the schools as well as continue to look at what it can do better.
     
     One parent from Poland spoke up, saying that she moved to the area so her daughter could attend Poland Community School after checking out many other school communities in Maine. She wanted to know if the school board already had ideas for fixing the budget in mind or were they open to input from the parents?
     
     She was assured that any input would be greatly appreciated. The school board would like to see more parent involvement and attendance at its meetings and especially the special meetings in February to give solutions and ideas to the board.
     
     The board encouraged parents to let board members know what their priorities were. Mary Martin, principle of Elm St School in Mechanic Falls, explained, "What you (parents) will accept as cuts and what you will not accept".
     
     “We will continue to lead, make hard decisions, and do what is right for the future of our students and communities,” promised Duquette, ending his power point presentation.
     
     Dana Lee the town manager of Poland expressed concern that there is no capitol revenues in place for the repairing or replacing of buses as needed as well as no mention of planning for keeping furnaces and buildings maintained.
     
     Duquette replied that a capitol improvement fund had just begun recently. A state mandate has been set that no school can purchase more than two new buses per year and the buses are in need of repair, and replacement.
     
     Board Member Carl Beckett reiterated that the board needs ideas from parents and the community. However, he encouraged the community to come up with an idead to help instead of just finding fault.
     
     
     
     
     
     led a special school board meeting in Mechanic Falls that drew about 75 people out Wed Jan 27th.  The discussion was on how the school board of RSU #16 is going to come up with a budget that will work for the upcoming fiscal year with a large budget shortfall. The meeting was attended by school officials, principles, selectman, town mangers, concerned parents and 2 legislators who represent our district in Augusta, Jim Hamper and John Nutting.