LIVERMORE FALLS — The proposed $18.28 million budget for the new Regional Unit 73 district is close to the state average on spending.

Regional School Unit 36 Superintendent Sue Pratt gave a PowerPoint presentation on the proposed budget to RSU 36 directors during Thursday’s meeting.

Jay Superintendent Bob Wall had given the presentation on April 7 to the School Committee.

The two school systems will merge on July 1.

The administrative budget does not include additional spending to create reserves, adult education costs or buying new laptops for sixth-graders.

People have raised concerns during recent meetings that the administration is proposed to be top heavy in the new district.

As far as system administration goes, the state average is 3.25 percent of budgets, and the RSU 73 proposal is 3.31 percent of the budget, according to information presented by both superintendents. That cost center includes Central Office, school board expenditures and superintendents. It a decrease of more than $70,000 due to consolidation, budget figures show.

School administration, which includes principals, is shown as being 5.27 percent for the state budget average and 6.58 percent for the RSU 73 budget.

The new district’s regular instruction cost center is proposed to be 41.19 percent while the state average is 40.17 percent. Special education is listed in the new RSU 73 budget as 12.35 percent of the budget and the state average is 14.60 percent. Students/staff support in the local proposal is listed as being 8.20 percent of the budget and the state average is 7.66 percent, Pratt said.

The other two areas the district has numbers that exceed state averages is facilities at 14.26 percent of the budget, compared to state average of 12.14 percent, and debt, which is 4.5 percent in the RSU 73 proposal, compared to the state average of 0.54 percent of the budget.

Pratt said that is because there is local only debt for the Livermore Elementary School. Voters in Livermore and Livermore Falls voted to put an addition on the school with taxpayer dollars without help from the state after the district did not make it on to the state school construction funding list several years in a row.

Regarding questions asked about having two superintendents to oversee the new school district, Wall and Pratt showed that several other schools of similar size have a superintendent and a assistant superintendent, or one superintendent and a curriculum coordinator.

The district is projected to have 1,612 students this fall.

The number breaks down to 225 at Jay High School and 298 students at Livermore Falls High School. The Jay Middle School is projected to have 351 students, which will include Livermore Falls Middle School students, if a vote to close the latter school is approved by voters on May 10.

Student populations at the Jay Elementary School is projected at 317 students and at the Livermore Elementary School at 373 students. The number of pre-kindergarten students is projected to be 48 at the Cedar Street Learning Center in Livermore Falls. The program will be provided through a partnership that includes the district, Androscoggin Head Start and Community Concepts, which runs Jay Head Start, Pratt said.

Adult education will be relocated to another building and alternative education will move into a high school.

RSU 36 band teacher, Darrell Roundy, will not be teaching at the Jay Middle School in the fall, Pratt said, following a director’s comment.

Roundy will teach one-third at each of the elementary schools and one-third at the Livermore Falls High School he said when contacted Friday.

Dianne Fenlason, the Jay instrumental music teacher, will teach Jay middle and high schools band instruction.

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