Maine news, sports, weather from Waterville Morning Sentinel

SAD 49 faces hard choices

BY DOUG HARLOW Staff Writer

FAIRFIELD -- If residents of the four towns of School Administrative District 49 want to keep taxes down in the coming fiscal year, they might have to live with fewer employees -- including teachers -- at area schools.

That was the news delivered Monday by SAD 49 Superintendent Dean Baker, as school board members steady themselves for a look at the first draft of the 2010-11 budget year, which begins July 1.

State aid for education is projected to be down 5.6 percent in the coming year, or about $1.27 million, Baker said. Coupled with earlier figures for next year means the district needs about $1.4 million.

"Most of the budget represents people costs," he said. "We've already cut -- before this budget was put together -- we've already chopped back just about every discretionary item we had: less materials, less supplies, less equipment for an athletic team, that sort of thing.

"The reductions are going to have to be primarily people-based -- I mean people."

The current budget that was approved by voters in Albion, Benton, Clinton and Fairfield last year stands at just more than $23.5 million.

Baker said two-thirds of all the spending in SAD 49 comes from state general purpose aid to education. He said the district already spends about $1,000 less on each student than the state average of $9,624 because of fiscal restraint.

But restraint, with very little left to pare, might not be enough to keep taxes from rising, he said.

"Anybody in education in Maine has seen this crunch coming for the last couple of years," Baker said. "We knew we were apt to lose funds in the current year, so our experience this year led us to believe that the times require minimal increases, if any increases, in the budget."

Baker said department heads and administrators have given him a very conservative budget to take to the school board at the next meeting on March 4 at the Fairfield Primary School. Previously negotiated salary increases and insurance are about the only dollar increases in the coming budget, he said.

Collective bargaining agreements for unions representing SAD 49 teachers and some education technicians are set to expire at the end of this budget year in June. Meanwhile, another group of education technicians are seeking to organize and form a union of their own, Baker said.

Teacher layoffs and salary freezes suddenly are a possibility in order to not increase local taxes, he said.

"It's particularly cruel to SAD 49 because districts that are the poorest are the most reliant on state aid, and therefore when you get a percentage cut they lose more money," he said. "We're in the process of identifying options for making reductions."

The budget process could begin with staff retirements and resignations, Baker said. After that, it could be a slippery slope.

"It could lead to layoffs anywhere in the district staff," he said. "Could be anybody. The board faces some difficult choices in upcoming collective bargaining and everyone who has worked in the district has shown a cooperative, determined spirit and we all know we have to get our expenses down to match our revenues."

Doug Harlow -- 474-9534

dharlow@centralmaine.com