JAY — School Superintendent Robert Wall will meet with selectmen on Monday, Feb. 1, to discuss the possibility of using the $216,000 for education that voters transferred from the town’s general fund last year to use for a state penalty.

Voters approved the transfer to pay for an expected $216,000 state assessed penalty because voters rejected a merger with Regional School Unit 36 in Livermore and Livermore Falls.

The state Legislature postponed the penalties for nonconforming systems for one year. The penalty for Jay would have been lower than expected at $193,465.

Regardless, the $216,000 still sits in the town’s coffers dedicated to school use.

With the state’s anticipated revenues falling far short of what was predicted, the Jay School Department, as do many other systems, faces less education subsidy than what was projected for the current budget. The 2009-10 budget was set at $9.75 million, $482,234 less than in 2008-09.

Wall held a pre-budget meeting Thursday with School Committee members to explain the situation.

Wall is projecting there will be a shortfall of between $164,175 to $380,175 in anticipated state revenue for the Jay school system during the current budget, he said Monday. There has been no official state printout on the exact amount, he added, but he’s hoping to have better information by the 6:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 1, selectmen’s meeting at the high school.

However, if the town approves the use of the $216,000 set aside for the penalty, then the shortfall would be $164,175, Wall said.

He is hoping town and school officials can work out a solution to the shortfall.

“We’re going to discuss it with town officials and request support,” Wall said.

Jay is looking at a projected state subsidy drop of $890,000 for 2010-11, he said. Plus, there are other factors including federal stabilization funds that were to be received this budget year that won’t be available next year to help offset the budget.

“Past history would support a very conservative budget process, realizing for the last two years we have been voted a (state) subsidy and it was reduced mid-year,” Wall said.

School officials are looking at more than just the current fiscal year, Wall said.

“We have to project what our subsidy will be and what our personnel complement will be to support it,” he said. “We’ll know within a week what those numbers will look like.”

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