JAY — Directors of Regional School Unit 73 announced Thursday that a public meeting on the proposed $22.17 million budget will be held at 6 p.m. April 7 at Spruce Mountain Middle School in Jay.

It will include an initial vote on the proposal.

The spending plan for fiscal year 2022-23 is $1.42 million more than this year. About 75% is for salaries and wages, Superintendent Scott Albert said in February. Special education spending is up 16% while health insurance increased 13% and liability insurance 23%, he said then.

Each town is being asked to pay $60,000 for food services, down from $80,000 last year, and $66,000 toward adult education, the amount approved last year.

An article on the warrant will ask for $45,000 for improvements to the tennis courts at Spruce Mountain Elementary School in Jay.

Another article will ask for an agreement with Fayette to pay tuition to allow its high school students to attend Spruce Mountain High School.

Voters will also decide whether to continue with the district budget meeting and initial vote, followed by a second vote at the polls days later.

This year, the second vote on the budget and other articles will be held April 26 at polling stations in Livermore, Livermore Falls and Jay.

Because the state lowered Jay’s valuation due to changes at the Androscoggin Mill, the amount Livermore and Livermore Falls pay will increase.

In other business Thursday, directors gave permission for the Spruce Mountain High School students collaborating with the robotics program at Foster Career and Technical Education Center in Farmington to attend out-of-state competitions this year.

The Blue Crew team at the tech center has five Spruce Mountain students participating, with teacher Rob Taylor as a mentor. Students began collaborating with the Farmington-based team after January.

Emily Hammond, Jack Cramer, Nathan Hall, Noah Civiello, Finnegan Zimmerschied, Noah Brougham, Benjamin “Kaleb” Daku, Benjamin Hatch, Jacob White, Kodi Quimby, Kyran Katzenbach, and Landen Rackliffe are Blue Crew members from Mt. Blue/Foster CTE Center. Lily Bailey, Ava Coates, Quin Fournier, Owen Schwab, and Daniel Wilson are from Spruce Mountain. Chandler Pike of Jay and a student at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone is also a member.

Blue Crew team adviser Richard Wilde said Spruce Mountain students encouraged his team to try for the Chairman’s Award, which is part of every competition. Bailey, Coates and Hammond from Mt. Blue High School in Farmington represented the team for that part of the competition. The team won the Chairman’s Award at the New England Pine Tree District event held at Thomas College in Waterville earlier this month.

At that event RSU 73 Director Joel Pike of Jay, also a Blue Crew mentor, won the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award.

The game this year was titled Rapid React with the theme of transportation. It focused on airports and airplanes.

“There’s no other program like this,” Wilde said. “I would really like to see you guys have your own team again. Until then, Spruce Mountain will always be welcome on the Blue Crew.”

Spruce Mountain High School had to suspend its robotics team after longtime adviser Daniel Lemieux retired from teaching.

“It was a great experience for me personally,” Taylor said, referring to participating in the robotics program again. “COVID was tough. It was really hard getting away from some of the things I had been doing. This is one I really enjoy. I didn’t realize how much I had missed it.”

Spruce Mountain students joining with Blue Crew team was one of the reasons they won the award, Taylor said. COVID-19 leveled the field, he said.

During the pandemic, robotics teams couldn’t mentor LEGO League teams as they had been doing. The Blue Crew team members and advisers worked with the Spruce Mountain teams last fall, they mentored middle school students and collaborated to form a combined team, all of which had an impact on the win, Taylor said.

“They gave (Spruce) kids experience they would not have had,” Taylor said.

“Rob’s been such a great addition to this team,” Pike said.

Director Patrick Milligan of Livermore Falls said the future is in innovation and technology. He noted the importance of women in science and that girls would be sought in those fields.

As winners of the Chairman’s Award, Blue Crew has qualified to compete at the New England District Championship from April 13-16 in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

The team will also compete at the New Hampshire Pease/Seacoast Event, March 31 to April 2, in Durham.

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