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SAD 54

More cuts despite school's closing

By Doug Harlow dharlow@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

SKOWHEGAN -- With the vote Thursday night to close the Cornville Elementary School, the school board now sets its sights on cuts that will most likely include some teachers, the high school athletic director and more than $100,000 in books and supplies.

Closing the Cornville school will save School Administrative District 54 about $689,000 this year, Superintendent Brent Colbry has said.

While many at Thursday night's school board meeting questioned the final savings for closing the school, Colbry on Friday said $273,122 would be saved in six teacher salaries. Two teachers will be moved to new classrooms in Skowhegan, while the other four from Cornville will take over for retiring teachers in Skowhegan, he said.

"We have 95 kids," Colbry said. "And we're going to spread them out into either Skowhegan schools, or into Norridgewock or into Canaan, wherever they go -- class sizes there are not large already. We would assign these two teachers, one to grade 4, one to grade 5, to reduce those sizes.

"The savings is the four retiring teachers. That's the cost that comes out of that budget."

Other savings from closing Cornville, he said, will be seen in the costs of eliminating a special education teacher, two education technicians, a half-time principal, a secretary, a cook, substitutes, busing and just over $127,000 in operations and maintenance, including a custodian, plowing, heating and electric bills.

But Colbry said the district needs to cut an estimated $2.33 million in projected increases to meet its "status quo" budget for 2010-11, meaning no new spending over this year's budget. He said the boards of selectmen in Skowhegan and in Norridgewock have implored the school board to make the necessary cuts to avoid tax increases.

On Monday, members of the SAD 54 Education Policy and Program Committee identified a list of possible cuts amounting to just more than $1 million, still leaving about $607,000 to be cut, Colbry said.

He said the possible cuts include:

* a librarian and foreign language teacher at the middle school;

* four teachers at the high school in math, science, social studies and English;

* a half-time foreign language teacher at the high school;

* a physical education teacher, a gifted-and-talented students teacher, a music teacher and a reading specialist;

* a cook, half-time secretary, a half-time information systems manager and three-fifths of the food service director's position;

* elimination of all salaries for teachers' sabbaticals; and

* elimination of gymnastics, swimming and Alpine skiing at the high school.

The potential $1 million in added reductions do not include any savings from closing Cornville, cuts to the transportation budget or anticipated requests for a salary freeze, which would have to be negotiated, he said.

Colbry stressed on Friday that no action has been taken on any of the possible cuts. He said he hopes to have a final budget figure by mid-April.

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534

dharlow@centralmaine.com