BUCKFIELD — Superintendent Deb Alden told directors of Regional School Unit 10 on Monday that she hopes they will continue cutting the proposed $37.24 million budget for 2024-25 when they meet next week.
So far, $2.7 million has been trimmed to bring the spending plan closer to this year’s $33.26 million. Among the cuts are switching from laptop computers to iPads for kindergarten through eighth grade students, not building a gender-neutral, single-person bathroom at Mountain Valley High School in Rumford; not having a drama/musical play at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School; and having no Functional Life Skills Special Education teacher at Rumford Elementary School.
Other possibilities are no new floor for the basketball court at the high school and eliminating an assistant principal position. There are three assistant principals at Mountain Valley Middle School and Meroby Elementary School, both in Mexico, and Rumford Elementary School.
Monday night’s meeting at Buckfield Junior-Senior High School was the third round of cuts to the budget for directors. They will meet Monday at 6 p.m. in the high school library.
The overall increase in town assessments is nearly 8%, Alden said, but there is a huge difference between towns that has to do with property valuations. Assessments are based 75% on property valuations and 25% on student population in the district towns of Rumford, Mexico, Buckfield, Hanover, Hartford, Roxbury and Sumner.
“And I think the property valuations that are coming from the state are hitting a lot of communities pretty hard,” Alden said. She said it was important “for the board to vote and agree for further cuts” at Monday’s meeting.
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