South Portland’s school budget for 2008-09 could face an unprecedented level of scrutiny by state education officials, the City Council and voters.
• The Maine Department of Education is requiring all school districts to reduce spending in key areas that include administration and special education.
• New state mandates give the City Council authority to ask for spending reductions in 11 different areas of the proposed school budget.
• The mandates also require the school budget to be approved by voters, if it exceeds state guidelines.
South Portland’s school budget historically has topped what is known as the Essential Programs and Services guidelines set by the state.
Superintendent Suzanne Godin noted that the city has more elementary schools and middle schools than the state recommends, thus increasing maintenance costs.
Also, South Portland bears debt obligations for renovating its five elementary schools and carries high extracurricular costs for athletics and other activities.
The citywide referendum to approve the school budget is scheduled for April 15, although the date could change.
The vote must be held within 10 days after the City Council has approved the budget. Voters will be asked whether they accept the school budget.
If the 2008-09 spending plan is rejected, the school department and school board have to start the budgeting process over again.
However, the entire referendum process may be in flux, after a legislative committee voted late last week to delay requiring municipalities to vote on school budgets. The recommendation awaits a vote by the Maine Legislature.
“The requirement may be put off for a year – until the spring of 2009,” said Polly Ward, business manager for the South Portland School Department.
But the school budget still must undergo closer scrutiny by the City Council, which votes on the school budget after the school board approves it.
In January, the annual budget reviews for both city government and the school department will get under way. Both the city manager and the school superintendent will introduce their budgets for review.
“We’re just beginning our fiscal year ’09 budget process,” Ward said. “The superintendent’s budget goes to the board of education for the first hearing on Feb. 27.”
School leaders and the City Council met last week to establish guidelines for the school spending plan. Both city and school officials agreed that they would limit taxpayer-supported increases to their proposed budgets to 4.18 percent over the previous year.
Godin said the council “indicated that it was not interested in micro-managing expenditures on the school side,” although it has new authority to request spending reductions in specific areas.
Godin said the council assured school leaders “it would support the bottom line within the guidelines.”
Mayor James Soule did not respond to requests for comments on the council-school board discussions.
“We base everything on the need from taxes,” City Manager Jim Gailey said Monday. “Both the school department and the municipal side are to submit budgets that are no more than a 4.18 percent increase in the needs from taxes.”
Gailey indicated that there may be a greater reliance on property taxes to maintain operations, since city revenues are flat or down in 2007.
“We are behind schedule in the revenue category in building permits, for example,” he said. “Fewer new homes are being built. The business community is holding tight, with the only big expansion going on at the mall.”
Maine education department officials also are encouraging school departments to devise ways to centralize services. Last week, South Portland school leaders sent a list of ideas to the state for review.
Among the proposals is for South Portland to handle maintenance of the Portland schools’ bus fleet. Godin said Portland will get a better price from South Portland than it does from a private vendor.
The reductions that Portland receives will count in favor of South Portland’s efforts at centralizing services and reducing school expenditures in the Greater Portland region, school leaders said.
The South Portland School Department awaited word this week on whether the state Department of Education would accept the plan.
It also expects to learn the state’s suggestions for saving money by centralizing services.
South Portland school officials also indicated they would consider consolidating services with other districts for tutoring and day treatment.
South Portland already is considered a regional center in terms of providing community support to children and families with a range of needs.
But, Godin said, those proposals were simply at “the idea stage” and had not been seriously discussed.
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