Local officials say cuts made by the Legislature will be felt in the fall.

Schools are scrambling to cut teachers’ hours, programs and equipment to cope with a sudden drop in state funding.

“We’re on a bare-bones budget as it is,” said SAD 21 Superintendent Thomas Ward, who oversees schools in Canton, Carthage and Dixfield. “This really hit us hard.”

In March, Gov. John Baldacci recommended the state spend $750 million on school aid, a $20 million increase over this year. In the past, the Legislature has gone along with the governor’s plan for school funding, so many expected this year would be the same.

A number of school officials figured their state aid based on the governor’s recommendation. They planned their 2004-05 budgets accordingly, going through school board meetings, public hearings and votes with that increase in mind.

A couple of weeks ago, the Legislature passed a bill that will give schools a large increase in state aid between 2005-06 and 2009-10. But it said it didn’t have enough money this year to give $750 million to schools.

It slashed the governor’s proposal by $10 million.

About 125 school systems learned last week they were getting less state aid than last year. Others found they were getting a smaller increase than planned.

Looking for cuts

Lewiston got $190,000 less than expected. Auburn got $134,000 less than expected. SAD 17, which includes eight Oxford-area towns, got $130,000 less than expected.

In SAD 21, Ward thought his schools would see a $250,000 increase in state aid. Instead, they got half of that: $125,000.

The school board stalled for time during the budget season. Knowing that no recommendation is a sure thing, officials didn’t want to be caught with a final budget and little state aid to back it up.

But officials still found themselves well into the budget process when the Legislature cut the governor’s proposal. Now three weeks before the budget must go to voters, the board is looking to cut travel, teachers’ conferences and audiovisual equipment.

“And we’re not done,” Ward said.

Other school systems were already finished with their budgets when they learned they weren’t getting the money they’d planned for.

In Union 29, which includes Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls, two towns got less state aid than expected. Poland voters had already approved a $12.5 million budget when officials found they were getting $25,000 less from the state. Mechanic Falls had already set its $4 million budget for a vote when officials were told to prepare for $30,000 less in state aid.

Despite attempts to follow the Legislature’s budget progress, Assistant Superintendent William Doughty said, “None of us saw this coming at all.”

Because the two towns can’t ask voters for more money once the budgets are set, they must spend less. Mechanic Falls is looking at trimming adult education, cutting some school programs and reducing teacher and employee hours.

Conservative approach

While many school systems will receive less state aid than they’d planned, a few will receive more.

They based their budgets not on the governor’s $750 million recommendation, but on a much earlier $734 million recommendation by Education Commissioner Susan Gendron.

Although the Legislature’s state aid budget is $10 million less than the governor wanted, it is $6 million more than the education commissioner suggested.

Officials in Litchfield and Wales, in School Union 44, used the education commissioner’s recommendation when projecting state aid. Wales will get $5,500 more than expected. Litchfield will get almost $16,000.

In Union 30, which includes Lisbon and Durham, Superintendent Shannon Welsh based her budget on the lower recommendation, too.

“We thought that was a more conservative approach,” she said.

Because of that, the school system will end up with about $53,000 more than expected. Welsh said that savings will be used to lower local taxes.

In SAD 9, which includes nine Farmington-area towns, Superintendent Michael Cormier based his budget on the lower recommendation. It was the only one he had at the time.

He expected to get about $100,000 less in state aid than he got last year.

Instead, he ended up with nearly $96,000 more.

But with a $21 million budget, he said $96,000 won’t do a lot. Cormier still plans to cut more than 20 positions, including eight full-time teachers, a bus driver and a custodian.

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