Issue: The amount of state aid to education that the Mechanic Falls school department will receive for the 2007-08 school year.

The scoop: The budget the School Committee previously approved for presentation to town meeting voters would have required no increase in the amount paid with local property tax dollars. With new figures coming out of Augusta which show a $140,000 increase in what the committee had expected to receive in state aid to education, the committee revised its request so the amount of local property tax money going to support the schools will decrease by about $140,000. This is an amount equivalent to about one mill on the property tax rate.

Up next: Voters will act on a school budget at the May 19 town meeting.

Field trip

Issue: Report on the Elm Street School sixth-graders’ three-day field trip.

The scoop: Principal Mary Martin declared her sixth-graders’ (and their Minot counterparts’) experience at the Ferry Beach Ecology School in Saco an unqualified success. This is in spite of a stay cut short a day by a power outage brought on by last Thursday’s snowstorm. The trip was made possible by a private grant and support from local businesses.

Up next: Plans are under way so next year’s sixth-graders from Mechanic Falls, Minot and Poland will all travel together in an exploration of coastal habitats.