REGION — At a February 8 board meeting, Superintendent Dave Murphy informed members that the school is expected to lose roughly 40 percent of its entire state funding. Murphy learned this when the district received its preliminary ED279s, which is information provided by the state that gives SAD 44 an overview of what it can expect for funding.
“We are losing our disadvantaged funding in this years proposed ED279,” Murphy said. “That comes out to $340,000, which is around 40 percent of our entire state funding.”
The district is no longer receiving funding because the overall percentage of SAD 44 students eligible for free and reduced meals fell below the state average of 46 percent, coming in at 44 percent, according to Murphy.
Murphy said he has reached out to the commissioner as well as the finance office to see if there are ways to recover some of the money. Another option, Murphy said, is to possibly see if a legislator could introduce a bill to help with funding, temporarily.
If any adjustments occur with funding, they will only occur at the high school level, according to Murphy. Telstar Principal Mark Kenney has started to contact families, Murphy said. This is to see if there were any people who were eligible for free and reduced meals but did not get them.
Murphy said the finance committee is going to further discuss the matter when they meet on Thursday, February 25.
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