The Scarborough Board of Education finance committee has approved $450,000 in reductions from its 2006 budget, which will bring its spending in line with a Town Council’s directive.
However, none of the cuts will affect the all-day kindergarten program that will start in the fall or the expansion of the foreign language program, as school administrators and residents had initially believed.
Instead, small reductions were made in a number of areas. The committee recommended trimming $980,000 in supplies, books and equipment; $167,175 in energy costs; and $202,000 in personnel.
There are a number of part-time positions included in the personnel reductions along with a couple of stipend positions. The only two full-time positions that were elimiated were new for next year and had not yet been filled.
Those positions were a full-time high school custodian and a kindergarten teacher. The district learned it did not need the additional teacher after reviewing the kindergarten enrollments. With the reduction, the average class size will be 17 students, which Superintendent Bill Michaud said is a bit larger than he had hoped, but still is manageable.
“We think we can get through with those reductions,” Michaud said.
The district’s 2006 gross operating budget will be about $25.5 million, an increase of about $1.5 million from this year. Taxpayers will be required to pay about $19.2 million of the budget, an increase of about $42,000 from last year.
The finance committee approved the reduction on May 10 and the Board of Education will vote on the issue at its Thursday, May 19, meeting.
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