DIXFIELD — Regional School Unit 56 approved all 22 articles and a $15.9 million budget at a districtwide public hearing May 26 at Dirigo High School.

A budget validation referendum is set for June 9 in Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru. The $15,986,741 budget proposal represents a 5.39% increase over the current fiscal year.

All 22 articles were passed Tuesday with little debate.

Late in the budget process, Superintendent Pam Doyen announced that the district had received additional funds from the Maine Department of Education for $54,080, general purpose aid for local schools. The initiative provides one-time funding to help stabilize budgets in districts with a high proportion of economically disadvantaged students.

The administrative team lobbied to add into the budget a network manager/IT specialist for $98,000, which was not initially included. The benefits to having the position included decreased outage time, more frequent school/community communication, improving instructional support and livestreaming events/activities.

To accommodate the IT specialist, cuts of $106,194 were recommended, including $36,000 for a social worker at Dirigo Elementary School, $10,000 in legal fees, and $10,000 from course reimbursement.

At the hearing, Charlie Swan, principal of Dirigo Elementary School, said he was OK with eliminating the social worker position, which was contracted.

“This does not eliminate all the social work in the building,” he said, adding that the guidance counselor has a background in social work, and there is a special education social worker.

Bethany Meehan-Poulin, of Peru, currently an assistant special education director for neighboring Regional School Unit 10, talked about the importance of having social workers in the district, and made a motion that the $36,000 social work position remain in the budget for student and staff support. A majority of the 32 residents at the hearing voted it down, however.

In the first year of RSU 56 in 2018, nine years ago, Doyen said the budget was $12.9 million. The proposed budget for 2027 is $3 million more.

“We made cuts over the first six to seven years,” she said. “Now, it’s about working to keep what we have.”

By town, Canton’s portion of the district’s budget is down $17,388.43, or 1.416%; Carthage is up $9,421.49, or 1.06%; Dixfield is up $123,892.49, or 5.185%; and Peru is up $153,573.28, or 8.304%.

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