At a recent board meeting, the directors of the Oxford Hills School District unanimously passed a resolution asking the governor and Legislature to respect Maine law regarding the state’s share of school funding.

In a referendum, passed by a large majority of Maine voters in 2004, the state’s share of funding for Maine’s public schools was set at 55 percent. However, that has not been met, forcing cutbacks in school budgets and thrusting more and more of the responsibility for school funding onto local taxpayers.

Between 2010 and 2016, the district budget has risen 6.45 percent, due to increases in salaries, insurance, fuel costs, etc. But, because of state funding cutbacks, the cost to the local taxpayers has risen 26.11 percent. During that time, the state’s share of local costs has dropped by $3 million. If the governor’s proposed budget passes, the real estate mill rate here would go from 8.1 to 8.68 — the biggest jump ever.

In the Oxford Hills School District, lack of state funding has caused deep cutbacks: the loss of 40 staff positions, deferred maintenance of buildings, loss of freshmen sports and after-school activity buses, half of the budget for instructional materials, the ability to keep fifth- and sixth-graders in their home towns, delaying the replacement of aging school buses and much more.

The resolution has been forwarded to the governor and the Legislature in Augusta.

I hope area residents will attend a school district budget hearing at 7 p.m. on June 4, to be held at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School.

Judith Green, Waterford

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