OXFORD — The 2014-15 budget for SAD 17 will be unveiled at public hearings in April, but the amount is still unknown, Superintendent Rick Colpitts said Thursday.
“There is no bottom line here for me to report,” he said.
Last year, voters approved a $35.94 million spending plan that required an average 6.5 percent increase in the local share districtwide.
With figures still changing at the state level and reviews of the district’s cost centers still under review, the final number is not available yet.
Colpitts said school officials are keeping a close eye on several factors, including the minimum local share, the impact of the budget on the district’s member towns and maintaining programs and staffing.
He said the district has received the state’s estimated calculations for funding public education from Education Commissioner Jim Rier. The report tells the district what the state share will be based on the government’s budget a year ago.
“It’s hard. We know it’s not accurate,” Colpitts said.
The state number reflects the currently enacted biennial budget. It is expected to be adjusted as the Legislature responds to current and projected budget shortfalls, including the $9.5 million General Purpose Aid reduction already proposed by the State’s Office of Policy and Management, Rier said in the report.
Rier said he expects the DOE to release updated numbers following the Legislature’s adjournment in April.
Because the district does not know how the state will fill in the financial gaps, Colpitts said it is premature to figure out the bottom line.
Until that time, the SAD 17 Budget Committee and administrators are continuing their reviews of department requests in preparation for a meeting with selectmen in each of the eight district towns and later with the public.
Colpitts said he is looking at a “maintenance” budget to keep programs and staff intact.
The superintendent is expected to present the preliminary budget to the SAD 17 Board of Directors at 7 p.m. April 7 at Harrison Elementary School.
The Budget Committee and superintendent will also meet with selectmen from each of the eight towns in late March or April. The committee will finalize its budget proposal April 30 and present it to the school board for adoption May 5.
On June 5, a districtwide budget hearing/meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School in Paris.
On June 10, the budget validation referendum will take place in all eight towns: Harrison, Hebron, Norway, Otisfield, Oxford, Paris, Waterford and West Paris.
ldixon@sunjournal.com
OXFORD — SAD 17 budget hearings are set for 7 p.m. at the following dates and places:
April 8, Oxford and Otisfield at Oxford Elementary School
April 9, Norway and Paris at Guy E. Rowe Elementary School in Norway
April 15, West Paris and Hebron at Hebron Elementary School
April 16, Waterford and Harrison at Harrison Elementary School
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