A possible delay in the 2008 school budget referendum required by the consolidation law could spare districts, including Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth and South Portland, an expense and give them another year to prepare for the new budget process.

As part of the state’s sweeping consolidation plan, school districts are required to have their budgets approved in a referendum. However, the Education Committee and Education Commissioner Susan Gendron are now recommending that requirement be delayed for a year, as municipalities adjust to the other consolidation requirements.

Though Scarborough, Cape Elizabeth and South Portland are exempt from having to consolidate with other school districts, the communities were already preparing for the change in their budget process. In all three communities, the budget is currently approved in a vote by the school board, then by the town or city councils.

David Connerty-Marin, Department of Education spokesman, said Tuesday districts that are consolidating won’t be doing so until July 2009, which made it “reasonable to put off” the referendum requirement, so that they won’t have to rework their budget processes twice in the next two years.

“It made sense to skip that,” he said. “There’s so much else to deal with.”

The idea behind the referendum was to allow local taxpayers to see how much their districts are spending over state recommended levels, as expressed in the Essential Programs and Services, or EPS, funding model. Part of the requirement of bringing the budget to a referendum vote was to separate it into 11 cost centers. According to Scarborough Superintendent David Doyle, the state still hadn’t clarified what would be included in each of those categories.

“We didn’t have very clear direction,” Doyle said Tuesday.

If the recommendation passes, Doyle said, “it will mean business as usual” for the school department. The Scarborough Board of Education is scheduled to meet Thursday, when, Doyle said, there will be an explanation of the town’s budget process for the new board members.

Though the board had planned on discussing the changes in that process required by the consolidation law, Doyle said he believes “chances are pretty good” that the process will remain the same this year and that the board will prepare the new members according to that assumption.

“If anything, this should simplify things for the vast majority,” said Connerty-Marin.

South Portland Superintendent Suzanne Godin said the delay would grant school departments and municipalities the ability to prepare for citywide votes and better inform the public.

“I think it will give us time to ensure we are prepared for a referendum vote,” she said Tuesday. “We had met with the City Council on Dec. 12 and developed a time frame for the referendum vote. It was not budgeted in the city budget. It would help that the budget addresses the needs of the additional referendum vote.”

Kathy Ray, who chairs the Cape Elizabeth School Board, said Alan Hawkins, the superintendent, had begun to line up possible dates to hold the budget referendum.

“We were prepared to go forward with the new plan,” she said Tuesday.

Though Ray said she believes the delay in the referendum requirement would be particularly beneficial to communities that have to consolidate, she welcomes the extra breathing room.

“It does make it easier not to have to make that change, as well,” she said.

Connerty-Marin said if some school districts have done the work to change their budget process to include a referendum, this change “does not preclude anyone who wants to from going ahead with it this year.” However, he said, he does not expect many, if any, districts will chose to do so.

Doyle said he hopes the delay will not be perceived as a way to keep the budget out of the hands of residents. He said the budget still has to be approved by two bodies of elected officials.

“The democratic process is alive and well,” he said.

Though Doyle said not having to hold a referendum will save the town money, he still hopes citizens will participate in the process.

“We don’t want to give the impression that we’re building it in the back room,” he said. “I think it’s important that the citizens know what’s going in the budget.”

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