BUCKFIELD — RSU 10 Superintendent Tom Ward met with 25 residents in the Town Office to explain the proposed 2012-13 budget Tuesday night.

Ward said that the actual amount for each budget article will be set by vote of citizens at the District Budget Meeting at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 31, in the Mountain Valley High School. He urged all residents to attend this meeting where the budget can be raised or lowered as voters see fit.

Ward said that for the first three years of the RSU’s existence, the school budget was held flat. During that time towns saw an increase in their share of the budget because of cuts in state aid. For next year the Budget Committee is recommending a budget of $35,145,068. Even though they made $2,123,926 in cuts, mostly by eliminating personnel, the proposed budget still has an increase of $1,023,642.

The RSU eliminated 20 positions last year and will eliminate 36 more in the coming school year. Many of these are retiring teachers who will not be replaced. Other significant cuts are $220,057 in technology, $136,559 in maintenance personnel and moving the $138,000 cost of the MaineCare positions to a different budget. Ward said that last year the state owed the RSU $1.2 million for MaineCare, but only paid $500,000.

Ward said that the teacher/pupil ratio was close to that supported by the state Essential Programs and Services. He said the starting point for the budget was a ratio of 17-1 in pre-kindergarten through first grade; 20 to 1 in second through fifth grades; 22 to 1 in the middle schools and 90 to 1 in the high school. The high school averages out to 18 students per class, as the teachers teach five different classes a day. The 2012-13 enrolment is expected to be more than 6 percent less than when the RSU was formed.

The superintendent pointed to the many improvements that have been made in the schools since they joined RSU 10. These have a value of nearly $500,000 and include extensive technology upgrades and expansions. It is now possible for students in any of the three high schools to remotely take courses taught in one of the other schools.

Ward said he believes there are opportunities for savings and improved programs by eliminating the three individual high schools and replacing them with one consolidated one. This may be 10 or 12 years down the road, he said.

Resident Judy Berg pointed out that SAD 17 has a much lower per-student cost. She said its budget is about the same as RSU 10’s, yet it has 700 more students. Ward said this was largely due to the fact it has only one high school.

Resident Christina Jackson said that many people cannot afford the increase in taxes. She said that 90 percent of the increase in her taxes was due to the increase in school taxes.

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