Opponents of the 2.1 percent increase are upset by the outcome.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – SAD 9 officials were breathing a sigh of relief on Wednesday that the entire budget passed. Across the district, those who had fought so hard against it were breathing fire.

“There are more fools out there than I thought there was,” said David Hargreaves, a member of the self-proclaimed SAD 9 Budget Advisory Committee, a group formed in April in response to a 2.1 percent budget increase from last year. “I was kind of let down, of course I was. We fought hard for that.”

The budget as put before voters on Tuesday was $21,199,979. That’s less than a 2.1 percent increase from the approved amount of $20,765,361 last year.

The state will pay 56.41 percent, around $11.5 million, of the budget and the remaining 43.59 percent, or about $8.5 million, will be paid locally.

SAD 9 actually spends $453 less per student than the state average to educate its 1,834 elementary school students, and about $92 less per student to educate its 938 high school students, said Superintendent Michael Cormier earlier this year.

Cormier was one of the ones smiling on Wednesday after every article on the warrant passed.

“We were pleased with the turnout,” he said, adding the district’s appreciation for the many community groups, from the PTA groups around the district to the Support Our Schools Committee, who stepped up to place ads, make calls and hang fliers supporting the budget.

Even the $1,602,819 leadership article, which covers administrative and school board costs, was adopted 1,206 to 1,053. That was the article that had such a rough time last year, failing multiple times at the polls until it was finally approved at a districtwide meeting in October.

The article easily passed in Farmington and Wilton, but failed or tied in every other town, including a decisive 117-34 rejection in New Vineyard, the hometown of the advisory committee.

Cormier said that article, and the budget passing on the first time around “helps with morale. It’s a relief,” he admitted.

Meanwhile, Hargreaves was a bit frustrated, saying he wished voter turnout had been stronger. About one-fifth of the eligible voting population exercised that right on Tuesday. “They can’t do nothing if they are at home,” he said. “You know what they say about you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink, you can’t even lead them to the water.”

Despite the budget passing, the ad hoc committee is meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at Smith Hall in New Vineyard. It are going to decide what’s the next step to take. “We are gonna work a little harder,” Hargreaves said.

Cormier said he hopes that the committee won’t give up, that they become involved earlier, instead of when the budget is within two months of hitting the polls. He also said he hopes the dialogue between the school board and the ad hoc committee is more positive. At several of the meetings between the two, tempers flared and some school board members admitted they felt they were being attacked.

“We want them to come,” Cormier said, extending an open invitation to the public to attend the board’s biweekly meetings that are usually only attended by directors and the press. “If people want to be involved though, they need to come at the beginning.”

Hargreaves said he hopes the gap between the two groups, what he calls “the school board and the group that’s trying to save everyone money” can be bridged and that the budget next time around will reflect the ad hoc’s influence.

“They are a part of us just as much as we are a part of them,” said Hargreaves. “But it should not cost no $21 million to send a bunch of kids off to school. If this district doesn’t break this area in 10 years, it’s going to be a wonder.”

sdepoy@sunjournal.com