West Paris schools survive due to teaching staff

WEST PARIS — Times are tough, but West Paris's schools are safe, SAD 17 Superintendent Richard Colpitts assured town selectmen at a recent meeting.

He warned the selectmen that the towns of SAD 17 should not expect any relief this year in the local share of education funding.  This follows a two-year freeze on budget increases for the eight towns in the district.  Following a 2.47 percent increase from 2007/08 to 2008/09, local spending has remained flat at $15,254,073 per year over the two years since. He warned that this would be very difficult to maintain for another year.

"The local share didn't see any increase [in the last year] but you didn't see any relief either, and I can promise you that you're not going to see any relief again," he said.  There are several reasons why this is the case. "With increases in wages which are pretty minimal, plus decreases in state aid, we're looking at probably another two million we have to cut if we're going to keep it flat," Colpitts explained.

However, the newest property valuations for the state of Maine mean that less of the burden will fall on the town of West Paris.  It was the only town in SAD 17 to see its property values drop from last year, decreasing from $107,400,000 to $106,400,000. This means that West Paris will contribute a smaller percentage of the district's funding than it did last year. He believes that other towns will be in a similar state in the near future.

Colpitts warned that this could soon be the case in towns across the district, and that West Paris is only, "the first of what will be several that will drop over the next couple of years." 

None of us are in a good place," he warned. "We all know the state of the state right now."

Nonetheless, he applauded the way in which SAD 17 and the people who work there have persevered through the tough economic times.

"We have a great school district," Colpitts commended, "The teachers have been phenomenal this year trying to work through it."

He then went on to assure the selectmen that West Paris's Legion Memorial School, housing the town's kindergartners, and Agnes L. Gray Elementary School  do not face closure like those in Andover and Woodstock.  After looking at 10-year projections for West Paris's grade school population, the administration concluded that the schools would be needed.

"We're still using the Legion School.  Thirty-two kindergartners enrolled this fall, and this year, we're not expecting that many, but we are going to have to accommodate them," he said. "As far as we know, the local schools are here to stay."