Residents in Saco, Biddeford and Old Orchard Beach will have final say in school budget on Tuesday

Residents in Biddeford, Saco and Old Orchard Beach will get the final say in their local school budget at the polls on Tuesday.

BIDDEFORD

In Biddeford, residents will vote whether to approve a $41.7 million Fiscal Year 2023 school budget.

The proposed budget requires a $666,000, or 2.9 percent increase, of local funding from the current years budget.

When creating the budget proposal, school officials had to factor in a $245,000 decrease in state subsidy.

“As we created the draft budget, we have attempted to level all expenditures in supplies while greatly decreasing technology expenditures and general additional capital expenditures because of the ability to use federal COVID funds,” said Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray in a memo to the school community.

The proposed budget includes 223 thousand for payment for capital expenditures through the revolving renovations grants. This amount is part of a ten-year, interest free payment plan.

It also includes a decrease of more than 400,000 of capital expenditures, using instead federal COVID relief funds to complete building upgrades. An unfilled educational technician position at Biddeford Intermediate School has been eliminated.

The proposed budget factors in a 10 to 15 percent increase in utility costs and increases substitute teacher pay. Two elementary school teaching positions have been moved from federal Covid funds to the local budget, and a special education teacher and educational technician have been added to Biddeford High School for the development of the extended eligibility program for students 18 to 22.

The proposed budget also includes three new federally-funded positions – an English teacher at Biddeford High School, an 8^th grade social worker, and a nursing assistant for Biddeford High School, Center of Technology and eighth grade.

Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Tiger Gym at Biddeford High School.

 

SACO

In Saco, residents will vote whether to approve a $47.8 million fiscal year 2023 school budget.

The proposed budget requires a $619,000, or nearly 2.2 percent increase of local funding than the current year’s budget.

When preparing the 2023 budget, the school department was faced with a $515,000 decrease in state education subsidy.

“Throughout this budget process, the School Department has been vigilantly transparent about the items included in our budget and the steps we have taken to develop this responsible budget,” said Jeremy Ray in a memo to the school community.  “We have posted all reductions and the detailed budget on the School Department’s website for full transparency and held several public hearings on the matter.”

The proposed budget includes a $35,000 increase in Thornton Academy tuition and an added $32,000 in vocational funding for Thornton students. It also includes about $65,000 for an additional resilience coordinator at Saco Middle School, $58,000 for a school resource officer, $165,000 in seed payment for MaineCare Billing, $25,000 for recovery and mental health counseling services at Saco Middle School through Day One, $12,000 for a homeless liaison and $17,000 for a part time social worker at Ck Burns. It also includes about $80,000 of increased teacher coursework reimbursement to match expenditures.

In the proposed budget, supply requests have been leveled to prior year expenditures, and summer school and before and after school programming budgets have been decreases as they had not been expended in prior years.

Funds in the proposed budget have been added to include new math curriculum and programs in Fairfield and Young schools were moved to increase quality of programming, decrease staffing needs and allow for art and music to have dedicated classroom space.

The Superintendent salary line was decreased $40,000 and four unfilled ed-tech positions were eliminated for a savings of $160,000. Contracted services for nursing were decreased $50,000 and contracted IEP support was decreased $40,000.

The proposed budget also includes new transportation software, $600,000 for building maintenance and capital equipment including student desks and chairs at Saco Middle School, and an additional maintenance person. Savings from a decrease in health insurance costs have been moved to use toward capital improvements and utilities.

A PreK Special Education teacher funded by Child Development Services has been added to the proposed budget.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Thornton Academy gymnasium.

OLD ORCHARD BEACH

In Old Orchard Beach, residents will be asked to approve a proposed $15.6 million fiscal year 2023 school budget.

The proposed school budget requires a $244,000, or 1.86 percent increase of taxpayer funding than the current year’s budget.

The proposed budget includes a nearly $444,000, or 2.93 increase in employee salary and benefits and about $136,000, or .9 percent increase in operational costs.

The proposed budget includes no new positions. It includes a $143,000 in operations and maintenance costs to cover rising costs of fuel and electricity. It also includes nearly $46,000 increase in the central office expenditures to cover employee initiatives and shifts in benefits, an increase of $20,000 to the Board of Education to fund an increase in legal fees and an increase of $30,000 to the contingency fund to restore it to pre-pandemic levels.

Voting in Old Orchard Beach will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Old Orchard Beach High School gymnasium.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at newsdesk@sacobaynews.com.