MINOT — A complaint against RSU 16’s proposed $17.8 million budget — signed Monday by the Minot Board of selectmen — included some errors, Superintendent Dennis Duquette said.
There is no new guidance position, the proposed pay increase for teachers and staff is an average 1.3 percent and no one will get a 12.3 percent pay hike, Duquette said.
The statement anticipates next week’s district-wide referendum on the school spending plan.
On Tuesday, voters in Poland, Minot and Mechanic Falls will be asked to approve the plan which would take effect almost immediately. A previous proposal on May 17, which would have spent $18.1 million, failed to get a majority of votes. That forced Tuesday’s second referendum.
Minot Selectman Eda Tripp said Thursday that the numbers cited in the complaint came from a budget sheet circulated by the school district.
“Those numbers were wrong,” Duquette said.
The superintendent said he understands people’s criticism of the budget and its effect on property taxes, but there is no other option.
“We are doing the best we can,” Duquette said. Three years ago, when the district was a school union, the towns spent more than $19 million to educate children. More than a million has been cut from the budget. People have lost their jobs and staff has accepted furlough days to cut costs.
State laws have forced the district to end single-town deals with unions and pay every worker the same, with regard to expertise and experience. That’s the main motivation for the pay hike, he said.
“We really take consolidation very seriously,” he said.
The school district has also been hit by the loss of more than $800,000 in federal stimulus money, revenue that had helped offset some costs associated with merging the union’s schools into a district.
The current school proposal includes an increase of about $270,000 in spending. Besides the pay raises, the budget includes two new, state-mandated special education teachers.
Tuesday’s vote is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. at the Minot, Mechanic Falls and Poland town offices
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