LePage budget narrows school funding gap

OXFORD — SAD 17, which just last week was facing a $2 million budget gap, got some good news in the form of a proposed budget from Governor Paul LePage.

“Reforms to our pension liabilities make it possible to increase state aid to local education by $63 million over the biennium from the state aid provided in FY 2011,” said LePage. “In 2013 we will contribute $914 million to General Purpose Aid to Education.”

If the budget is approved by the legislature, the plan could help to ease the pain experienced by the district.

"We just received the impact on our school yesterday," Superintendent Rick Colpitts told Oxford town leaders on February 17. "It's good news. Instead of being cut $603K, we're only going to be cut $126K under the governor's plan."

Despite the good news, Colpitts said that the district is still likely to seek some sort of local tax increase.

"The school district will be looking for an increase, but how much that is, I don't know and the school board has not had a chance to even discuss that," said Colpitts. "We're still reviewing the initial projections."

The smaller reduction in state aid will help the district, which was forced to cut 36 staff members last year to address a $2.6 million deficit.

Up until now, the district has been making budget projections based on a flat state education budget.

"We received an estimate in April of 2010 which is what the commissioner of education guessed would be our allocation of state funding, if state funding remained flat," said Colpitts.

Under that budget projection, the district circulated three potential scenarios with regards to local tax increases. No tax increase would create a $2 million deficit in the district, while increases of three and five percent would lead to a $1.5 million deficit or a $1.2 million deficit, respectively.

Now, the numbers are slightly less grim. With the governor's new proposed budget, the deficit amounts to $1.5 million, $1 million, and $775K under the different tax scenarios.

"So it does help us," said Colpitts. "The governor's plan would help us."

Colpitts stressed that the governor's plan is not yet law.

"It's his proposal," said Colpitts. "The legislature has not enacted it, so I can't tell you with any kind of a firm voice that this is what will happen."

The district has already announced plans to explore the concepts of combining the two bus runs, which could save an estimated $400K.

The budget shortfall is created in part by projected increases in costs, "primarily oil, gas, diesel, [and] wage increases," said Colpitts.

Colpitts said that the district's obligation to bargain in good faith would likely lead to increased wage costs.

"At this point, secretaries and Ed Tech II and III [positions] have taken no wage increase for two years. No step increase, no salary increase," said Colpitts. "The administrative team has had no salary increase. Central office, no salary increase. That's been for two or three years. If you look at teachers, they've had a step increase, but no increase on base."

Colpitts said that it is too early in the negotiation process to say what the impact will be.

"We're starting negotiations with our Ed Tech I, bus drivers, kitchen workers and other workers and, again, I can't tell you what that would be."