MEXICO – The Region 9 board unveiled proposed 2005 secondary and adult education budgets Tuesday night that, if approved, would result in 5 percent increases over the current year’s operating budgets.

The cooperative board will likely act on the secondary vocational budget of $1,053,444 and the adult education budget of $213,354 at its April 13 meeting.

Residents of the region will have their chance to vote on the issue at a districtwide meeting Tuesday, May 18.

Member districts will raise $105,288 of the total adult education budget. The remaining $108,000 will come from state subsidies, class fees and carryover from this year. SAD 21 will pay $15,298; SAD 43, $68,433; SAD 44, $15,199; Hanover, $605; Gilead, $374; Peru, $5,232; and Upton, $147.

Of the $1,053,444 secondary budget, all but $6,400 will be raised by the sending districts.

These funds are expected from unorganized territory tuition and e-rate reimbursement.

SAD 21 will pay $245,794; SAD 43, $454,888; SAD 44, $244,642; Gilead, $6,177; Hanover, $11,151; Peru, $83,345; Upton, $1,047.

Region 9 Director Deborah Guimont said the more significant reason for the budget hikes can be attributed to a 25 to 30 percent increase in liability, vehicular and building insurances. She said once the region became the owner of the River Road school, rather than a tenant, state law required that the building be insured for its replacement value rather than for its actual value.

Other increases in the secondary budget are the result of teacher and educational technician salary hikes. The vocational school’s 12 to 15 teachers are paid an average of the salary scale paid to teachers from the sending districts. And for the first time, the board approved an educational technician pay scale that clearly specifies salaries for each year of service and clears up any inconsistencies, Guimont said.

New three-year contracts were recently settled for the school’s teachers and educational technicians. Ed techs will receive 3.5 percent increases. The percentage of change for teachers’ salaries is not known, Guimont said.

Public hearings on the two proposed budgets are scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, at Telstar Regional High School and at the Region 9 school.

In other matters, the terms of board members Marlene Gile, SAD 43; Wayne Thurston, Peru; Keith Farrington, SAD 44; and Kenneth Robbins, SAD 21, expire this year. Farrington and Robbins have indicated that they will not seek additional terms.

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