Budget Planning for 2012-13

The Finance Committee of the School Board has directed me to bring in a budget that is the same amount as the final budget voted on and approved by the voters in August, 2011. (a flat funded budget) The General Fund amount for the 2011-12 school year is $25,882,500. Very little of that amount will be paid by the state.

The State of Maine currently determines school subsidy based on the Essential Programs and Services Model (EPS.) The state has determined through EPS that the minimum amount MSAD #61 is required to raise for education is $18,045,064.79 for this school year. Of this amount, we are actually receiving $834,133.10, which is 4.42% of the total EPS allocation. Some districts receive almost 100% of their EPS allocation. For a quick nearby comparison, MSAD #6 receives 50% of their allocation. The reason for this difference is that the high property values in our four towns based on the extensive amount of lakefront property, causes the formula to determine that our local taxpayers have the ability to pay for their schools. This situation puts us in an especially difficult situation because we are requiring local taxpayers to raise almost $25 million to run our schools with almost no funding from the state during a very troubling economic period.

To bring in a budget that is the same amount as the current year, it will require finding savings to offset increased costs for transportation fuel, heating, food service, supplies, and salary/benefit increases, etc. As we embark on this very challenging budget year, administrators will be looking critically at all District programming and the level of service in each cost center. Over the last 3-5 years we have been cutting “around the edges” and trying very hard to keep class sizes small and not affect the students in the classroom. At this point, we have no more easy cuts to make. Approximately 88% of our school budget consists of personnel costs. So, unfortunately, we will be proposing personnel cuts to bring in the budget the School Board is requesting. Some possible cuts may affect all departments in order to be consistent across the buildings of the District.  

As of the date of this post, 1/27/12, all administrators have submitted their preliminary budgets for the 2012-13 school year. These budgets have been presented to Sherrie Small, our Financial Coordinator and myself, along with one School Board member who attended each meeting. Each specific budget has been reviewed line by line, detailed questions have been asked and answered, and additional cuts have been suggested where applicable. The bottom line of each cost center compared to the current year and the major cuts/additions proposed have been reviewed by the Leadership Team twice. The budget was presented to the Finance Committee this week. Other than the additional cost for bonding of the high school/vocational project which was approved by District voters, the budget is level at his point. As predicted above, the cuts required to bring in a level budget are extensive. I will publish the timeline for meetings related to the budget and major details of the proposed budget in future posts.

LRHS Football

 We are hosting a community forum to hear feedback from people in the community and from students about our football program on January 5, 2012 from 7-8 p.m. at the LRHS cafeteria.

We hope to soon make an important decision regarding the direction of our football program for this coming season.  With the reality that team numbers are low and the concern for safety of our players, we are exploring all of our options. One option that is time-sensitive is the possibility of petitioning the Maine Principal’s Association to go down a class to participate in a Class C schedule. This would mean we would not be eligible for a play-off appearance, no matter how our team did in the regular season. This one particular scenario is a year by year commitment. Football is the only sport that playing down a class is allowed. 

Please consider attending the meeting on January 5th and/or responding to the survey that Paul True (Athletic Director) and I have created online. You also can post a comment on this blog. The School Board will be voting on this decision on Monday night, July 9, 2012 at CRES.

The link to the survey is:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22E9T9UXNGT

Budget Questions

Hi All,
In M.S.A.D. # 61 we are beginning the budget development process for the 2012-13 school year. I am wondering if community members have any specific advice for us related to the budget.

Specifically, I am wondering:

1.) What questions do you have about the District budget or the budget timeline?


2.) Do you have questions about specific District buildings or programs?


3.) Do you have budgetary advice for us or are there areas of the budget where you believe we should be spending less?

4.) Do you have budgetary advice for us or are there areas of the budget where you believe we should be spending more?


5.) Are there areas in the School District Budget where you believe that we are not efficient?

Thank you in advance for any ideas and advice. I will respond to questions asked and, if a discussion gets started about a topic, I will join in periodically. I will be moderating all responses before they are posted to the blog to be sure posts stay appropriate and do not have specific names, profanity, etc.

Introduction

Hello All, This is my first blog post on this new Superintendent Blog. I hope residents of our four communities, Bridgton, Casco, Naples and Sebago will visit often and share their views about things going on in the District and issues we are trying to deal with  collectively. Here is some background information about me... I grew up in Portland and spent all my childhood summers at a camp on Brandy Pond in Naples. I was a lifeguard at Sebago Lake State Park for many summers throughout my college years and I also was a waitress at Point Sebago for a few summers during the same period. I graduated from Springfield College in Massachusetts and started teaching at the elementary level the fall after I graduated. I was a teacher for 20 years in both the Waterville and Portland school districts before I became an administrator. Along the way, I earned a Masters Degree in Literacy and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study in Educational Leadership at USM. I also had a house built in Naples and moved to this community.

In MSAD # 61, I first worked as the Principal of Sebago Elementary School, then as Assistant Superintendent. This is the ninth year I have worked for MSAD #61. While I have worked for this district, I earned a Doctorate Degree from Seton Hall University in New Jersey. When Mr. Patrick Phillips announced that he had accepted a different Superintendent position last spring, the School Board appointed me Interim Superintendent. It was a whirlwind summer as a result of the budget not being passed by the voters twice and needing to bring it back a third time. My hope is that through this Blog and through other opportunities, we can develop a budget that meets students' needs and can also pass at the voting booths this spring. I welcome your comments and ideas.