RSU 73 Superintendent Scott Albert shared details of the $26.07 million proposed budget with directors on March 6. His office is in the central office of Regional School Unit 73 at 9 Cedar St. in Livermore Falls, seen in 2019. File photo/Livermore Falls Advertiser file photo

JAY — Scott Albert, superintendent of Regional School Unit 73 summarized the $26.07 million budget Thursday night, March 6, at the board of directors meeting held at Spruce Mountain High School, then reminded the directors they would vote to approve the budget at the March 13 meeting.

The proposed budget is $1.43 million dollars more than the current spending plan of $24.63 million – a 5.82% increase, he noted. The budget does not include money to replace bleachers at the high school, which voters from Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls will be asked to approve in a separate warrant article, he said.

Voters will meet at 6 p.m. on April 10 at the high school for the budget referendum meeting where approval of each budget line will be considered. On April 29 voters in each town will go to the polls to consider one article approving the overall budget. Funding for the bleachers along with keeping the current format of the referendum meeting and referendum vote are among other articles that will be considered then.

“Regular instruction is up 4.18%,” Albert said. Most of the increase comes from salaries and benefits plus the new Family Medical Leave Act, he noted. “Even though it doesn’t go into effect where people can take money out until May 2026, starting Jan. 1 we were taxed,” he stated. “That has to be put in the budget.”

Regular instruction includes 27 teaching positions at the primary school and four regular education technician positions, 22 positions and 1 ed tech at the elementary school, 24.5 positions and half an ed tech at the middle school and 27.5 positions and 1.5 ed techs at the high school, Albert explained.

Special education is up 9.42%, Albert noted. “We are adding one teacher in this proposed budget,” he said. “We have 19 current teachers, 54 ed techs, 46 of which are in this budget. The other eight are covered with federal money. And there’s also one social worker shared between primary and elementary schools just for special ed students.”

There is also a $50,000 increase in tuition for out of district placement, Albert indicated. The district has eight to ten students in out of placement, he said. Some are day treatment, some are residential, he noted. “That is all covered in the Individualized Education Programs [IEPs] we have to follow by law,” he stated. “We don’t get to set the price that these agencies bill us for, and we sometimes don’t get to pick which ones are open for us. We’re lucky enough we get slots. Sometimes we don’t have slots and kids are on a waiting list for a while.”

Other instruction is up 10.87%, includes athletics, sports trips and academic stipends for drama, chorus, band and so forth, Albert said. Most of the $63,000 increase [$48,000] is for middle and high school athletics, which includes expenses for the new wrestling program at the high school, he noted.

Student and staff support is up 3.5%, includes assessment [testing], libraries, curriculum, technology, nurses, guidance and social workers, Albert noted. “Almost all of that is salaries and benefits have gone up,” he said. “The assessment increased $7,000. We had put in the budget 13% for health insurance in the district. We got a letter stating it could go as high as 17.5%.”

Albert said the board and voters will be asked to create an insurance capital reserve account using $150,000 from remaining funds this year. That money would be available for district insurance expenses in future years if the increase is less than 17.5%, he noted. Doing so will not raise taxes, he stressed.

System administration is up 4%, includes school board, superintendent, and business offices. Salaries and benefits went up, $4,000 more was added for the audit, Albert said.

School administration is up 12.1%, mostly from salaries and benefits for secretaries and principals, Albert stated. It also includes adding a dean of student at the primary and elementary schools, increasing pay for dean at the middle school to be comparable, he noted.

Director Jodi Cordes of Jay asked if those were administrative positions.

“They are not officially administrative, because they don’t have certification,” Albert replied. “They can’t evaluate teachers, but they can deal with student behavior. If they need help in a classroom, they can go in and help. If a kid needs to be brought to the office, they can help with that, some of the things you really shouldn’t be having secretaries do.”

The deans will also free up administrators, allow them to get into classrooms more to see how teachers are doing and intermingle with the students, Albert noted. This had been discussed previously but a secretary didn’t retire and removing somebody wasn’t desired, he said.

“It does seem like a new position and the way that it’s put in – alleviating a secretary position, and bringing in technically two new positions, and then bringing up the middle school position – which is more than $100,000,” Cordes said.

Albert agreed the amount would be close to that, 1.5 positions would be added. That can be discussed, he noted.

Director Roger Moulton of Livermore Falls clarified the dean is basically an assistant principal without certification.

“That is why it’s called dean of students,” Albert stated. “We can pay them at a much lower rate.”

Moulton said the dean at the middle school has done a wonderful job for the district, hoped the proposal to add more wouldn’t be affected.

Transportation is up 2.43%, includes payments for lease to own agreements for a new bus and new van, Albert said.

Operations and maintenance is up 6.49%, is mostly salaries and benefits plus a 3-year lease on a new truck, Albert said. The district has 22 bus drivers, six van drivers and 23 custodians [12 who are part time bus drivers, others who have licenses are bus driver subs], he shared. The contract for the seven who just drive bus is 180 days, six hours a day, he noted. The contract for the others is 260 days, with different hours in the summer than during the school year, he said.

Debt service has not increased, Albert said.

Other expenditures is the same, $100,000 for contingency in case something happens in the middle of the school year, he noted. “We don’t have to go back out to the taxpayers to ask for more money.”

On March 13 the budget lines, bleachers and insurance reserve account will be voted on and warrants signed, Albert said. If the bleachers are approved by voters in a separate article on April 10, the budget increase will be 5.99%, he noted.

“We know 70% of this budget is salaries and benefits,” Albert said. “I do know it is kind of a shock.”

If the budget is approved, total taxes per town [which includes $66,000 for adult education, the same as last year] would be:

• Jay, $4,2 million, 10.1% more than last year.

• Livermore, $3.0 million, 12.7% increase.

• Livermore Falls, $2.8 million,12.5% more.

“That’s based on 80% valuation, 20% student count,” Albert said. When the district formed it was 100% valuation based, he noted. The current system helps Livermore because while their valuation is high with three ponds, it is offset by lower student numbers, he added.

Corded noted the challenges with federal state funding uncertainties, the loss of the paper mill in Jay affecting valuation.

“I completely support everything that this school is doing, but I’m fearful for the future unless we start really looking at some of these numbers,” she stressed. “That’s where my questions are coming from, because I don’t want us to have to be at these tables cutting 25 positions because we got news of something. I would like us to start thinking strategically, thinking outside the box. How can we do things differently, and just asking questions.”

Cordes said she is here to help get the budget passed through the towns, show the board is doing due diligence and asking the questions of what can be done to alleviate some of the taxes, yet still have an amazing school system. “I know that’s a hard thing to pull those two together,” she added.

Albert shared the district’s cost per student compared with the state average for 2023/2024.

For grades 9-12, RSU 73 spent $12,666 per student. The state average was $13,283.

The difference was $617. With 411 students, the district spent $253,000 less than other districts.

For kindergarten through eighth grade the district spent $9,985.81 per student. The state average was $12,066.94 – a savings of $2,081 per student or more than $1.78 million with the 858 students in those grades.

Albert wasn’t looking to raise funding to the state average, just wanted people to be aware, show that the district is trying.

“Jodi is absolutely right,” he noted. “We have to try to think outside the box as we move forward.”

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