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BURNHAM

Doors closing at Burnham Village School

By Scott Monroe smonroe@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD -- In about four months, the Burnham Village School and superintendent's office will close, some students will be sent to new buildings and a handful of school jobs will be cut.

The School Administrative District 53 board of directors made those decisions Monday night after approving $316,000 in proposed budget cuts. School officials say the cuts are needed because of deep reductions in state aid, amounting to about $526,000.

But closing the Burnham Village School, which serves area kindergarten-aged children, is not a done deal. Residents in Burnham, Detroit and Pittsfield will also need to approve its closure at a district-wide referendum vote, scheduled for late April.

The school board's vote to close the Burnham Village School was 7-2; both of Burnham's representatives -- sisters-in-law Barbara Basford and Regina Basford -- were the dissenters.

After the vote, board chairman Robert Downs told the Basfords, "Barbara, I'm sorry we had to do this -- and Regina."

After Monday night's meeting, Regina Basford said she voted against closing the school because she and her children attended the school, and her grandchildren are currently attending.

"It's a wonderful community school and it would be a loss for the students," Basford said. "We were supposed to do what's best for the students. I think it's a shame we have to cut the budget."

Even as the board approved the $316,000 in cuts, its members still face a big budget shortfall. If the $10 million budget were not reduced any further, taxes would increase an average of 11 percent district-wide.

Because of changes to local property valuations, which are used by the state to formulate each municipality's tax burden, the pending school tax increase would hit Detroit the hardest, according to Superintendent Michael Gallagher.

Detroit would be slammed with a 16.7 percent tax increase to pay for local schools, while Pittsfield would face a 10.4 percent tax increase and Burnham 11.2 percent.

Pittsfield board member Barbara Poirier, who also serves on the district's budget committee, said her group is recommending another $247,500 in budget cuts, which would reduce the district-wide tax increase from 11 percent down to 4 percent.

"We thought if we cut it in half, it would be a much more reasonable amount," Poirier said of the tax increase. As to what else could be cut from the budget, "there are some ideas out there, but it's going to hurt."

And it's probably better to make more cuts this year than wait and have to make bigger cuts next year and face higher tax increases, Poirier said.

"It's sort of a balance of how you impact the community versus how you impact the school district," Downs said. "Unfortunately, we'll be back with more ... unless we get some additional state revenue."

Board members acknowledged their decisions could be affected by recent news that state revenues are projected $51 million higher than anticipated, though it's unclear whether that money would be used to boost state aid to schools.

District officials are also awaiting a decision on their request to be exempted from a $182,000 state consolidation penalty. Gallagher said school officials have re-scheduled a meeting with Education Commissioner Susan Gendron for March 11 to discuss that request, after Gendron did not show up to a meeting last week.

Scott Monroe -- 861-9253

smonroe@centralmaine.com