NEW GLOUCESTER – The SAD 15 school board heard requests from three residents during Wednesday’s public hearing on the proposed 2005-06 school budget.
Since they were the only ones who spoke, the hearing lasted less than 10 minutes.
Gray Town Council member Gary Foster asked the board for a list of unfunded programs and their costs. He sought the programs mandated by state and federal requirements for which the district has never received financial support.
In addition, Yolanda Taplin of Gray pleaded to keep a full-time physical education and health teacher position at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School next year.
Another parent spoke in support of a full-day kindergarten initiative for the district at a cost of $185,924. Last year, voters turned down funds for that request by a narrow margin.
The school board is in the final phases of budget deliberations. Members have said they want no more than a 5 percent increase overall. The school budget goes to voters in Gray and New Gloucester on June 14.
SAD 15 was notified this week that the district will receive $8,182,242 in general-purpose state aid, an increase of $1,677,149 from the current budget. The board held a budget workshop after the regular business meeting to come up with the final budget figure for 2005-06 of $17,895,000.
During the budget reviews, the board has focused on maintaining current school programs and contractual obligations. It also has concentrated on appropriating enough funds for insurance, gasoline and fuel increases.
In other business, the board endorsed a Destination Imagination’s team trip to Tennessee to compete in the global finals. A blended team of seventh- through 10th-graders will fly to Knoxville. The group is raising $8,700 to fund the trip.
Pennell Institute
Also, the board’s chairman, Dr. Alan Rich, announced that the Gray Town Library is interested in taking over the Pennell Institute, a school-owned building of historic significance in downtown Gray, for the town’s library.
The board was told that a formal request in writing will be sought. That will be sent to Maine’s attorney general to ask that the educational trust established in 1870s by Henry Pennell be turned over to the Gray Library trustees. SAD 15, which manages the Pennell Trust, announced several years ago that the building was no longer needed for educational purposes.
Efforts by Gray town officials to have the building returned at no cost were not supported by the Gray Town Council, after nearly a year of negotiations and pending lawsuits.
Maine’s attorney general, who oversees educational trusts, said the building could be sold for fair market value with the funds added to the Pennell Trust, or the building be swapped for land or buildings of equal value for the district.
In the new proposal, if the attorney general approves, the trust would entirely go to the library trustees, said board member Peter Pinkerton. No action was taken on this possibility.
Comments are no longer available on this story