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RSU 5 braces for deep aid cuts
By Beth Brogan, Times Record Staff
FREEPORT — Officials in Regional School Unit 5 — the district that encompasses Freeport, Dur-ham and Pownal — are bracing for a drastic cut in state aid to education for the current year. School officials fear they’ll have to cut approximately $650,000 from the budget crafted to pay the new regional district’s expenses between now and June 30, 2010.
In an announcement posted on the RSU 5 Web site, Superintendent Shannon Welsh wrote that she hopes to avoid layoffs, but notes that the specific amount cut will not be known until mid-November “and there may be additional subsidy reductions required later.”
While approximately $371,186 has been identified in savings and additional revenue, administrators are scrambling to fill the remaining budget gap — potentially by cutting supplies, field trips and stipends for athletic and co-curricular activities.
So far, the RSU 5 board has taken no formal action on the potential budget reduction, chairman Nelson Larkins said today. School administrators have been directed “to come forward with ideas on where the cuts would come from.”
Welsh did not return phone calls from the newspaper by press time.
According to Welsh’s statement, more than 50 “position changes” over the summer netted approximately $142,000 in savings through lower salaries and benefits. The district has already instituted a budget freeze for all but essential spending. Additional savings from various sources — including approximately $117,000 saved in tuition when 13 Durham students began attending Freeport High School instead of other schools — brings RSU 5’s total savings to $287,186, according to the district information.
Those savings, added to unanticipated revenues of about $84,000, account for $371,186 of the anticipated budget shortfall, leaving administrators to find an additional $286,814 in reductions.
To find those cuts, a document provided to the board of directors last week lists “Areas of Consideration” to be supplies, equipment and books, field trips, professional development and “stipends — athletic/co-curricular.”
Larkins said the board might consider not filling two vacant registered nurse positions in the district, and instead hire part-time certified nurse’s aides.
Previously, Freeport’s Morse Street and Mast Landing elementary schools shared a full-time nurse; Freeport Middle School and Freeport High School shared a full-time nurse; Pownal Elementary School employed a part-time RN; and Durham Elementary School employed a nurse.
Currently, the Freeport middle and high school nursing position is vacant, as is the position at Pownal Elementary School. Under the scenario being considered by the school board, the registered nurses at the Freeport elementary and Durham elementary schools would oversee certified nursing assistants at the other schools.
Larkins said administrators at all the district’s schools have been asked to review their budgets to find savings, but until final subsidy numbers are available from the Maine Department of Education, no final decisions will be made.
Administrators at all schools have been asked to review their budgets “to try to figure out where can we save money on supplies, equipment and cutting back to the most essential field trips,” Larkins said. “In terms of stipends, nothing has been specifically identified. We have not made any decisions to cut any positions.”
bbrogan@timesrecord.com
In an announcement posted on the RSU 5 Web site, Superintendent Shannon Welsh wrote that she hopes to avoid layoffs, but notes that the specific amount cut will not be known until mid-November “and there may be additional subsidy reductions required later.”
While approximately $371,186 has been identified in savings and additional revenue, administrators are scrambling to fill the remaining budget gap — potentially by cutting supplies, field trips and stipends for athletic and co-curricular activities.
So far, the RSU 5 board has taken no formal action on the potential budget reduction, chairman Nelson Larkins said today. School administrators have been directed “to come forward with ideas on where the cuts would come from.”
Welsh did not return phone calls from the newspaper by press time.
According to Welsh’s statement, more than 50 “position changes” over the summer netted approximately $142,000 in savings through lower salaries and benefits. The district has already instituted a budget freeze for all but essential spending. Additional savings from various sources — including approximately $117,000 saved in tuition when 13 Durham students began attending Freeport High School instead of other schools — brings RSU 5’s total savings to $287,186, according to the district information.
Those savings, added to unanticipated revenues of about $84,000, account for $371,186 of the anticipated budget shortfall, leaving administrators to find an additional $286,814 in reductions.
To find those cuts, a document provided to the board of directors last week lists “Areas of Consideration” to be supplies, equipment and books, field trips, professional development and “stipends — athletic/co-curricular.”
Larkins said the board might consider not filling two vacant registered nurse positions in the district, and instead hire part-time certified nurse’s aides.
Previously, Freeport’s Morse Street and Mast Landing elementary schools shared a full-time nurse; Freeport Middle School and Freeport High School shared a full-time nurse; Pownal Elementary School employed a part-time RN; and Durham Elementary School employed a nurse.
Currently, the Freeport middle and high school nursing position is vacant, as is the position at Pownal Elementary School. Under the scenario being considered by the school board, the registered nurses at the Freeport elementary and Durham elementary schools would oversee certified nursing assistants at the other schools.
Larkins said administrators at all the district’s schools have been asked to review their budgets to find savings, but until final subsidy numbers are available from the Maine Department of Education, no final decisions will be made.
Administrators at all schools have been asked to review their budgets “to try to figure out where can we save money on supplies, equipment and cutting back to the most essential field trips,” Larkins said. “In terms of stipends, nothing has been specifically identified. We have not made any decisions to cut any positions.”
bbrogan@timesrecord.com
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