SACO — Thornton Academy, facing the impact of state funding cuts, has eliminated 5.4 positions, according to Chief Financial Officer Paul Kelly. Although he declined to say specifically what jobs were to be cut, Kelly said it is a combination of teaching and non-teaching positions.
The school has had to “tighten its belt” said Kelly. Although rising expenses such as energy costs are a determinant, he said a major factor is the reduction of the “insured value factor.”
The value factor allows private high schools like Thornton Academy, which serve publicly funded students, to tag on an addition to tuition. The insured value factor gives these private schools, which do not have access to state renovation funds, an opportunity to acquire funds for large scale improvement and maintenance projects.
Last year, the state had cut the factor from 10 percent of a student’s tuition to 5 percent, with the understanding that it was a one-year event, said Kelly. However, this year, the state has continued with the decrease.
“That’s not good news for us,” said Kelly.
Jim Rier, director of finance and operations for the Maine State Department of Education, said that next fiscal year, schools will be able to charge 5 percent of the tuition, or $500, whichever is lower.
Kelly said that the students contracted from Saco and Dayton are currently in a five-year contract, so the insured value factor formula does not presently have an impact on those tuition rates. Next year, after the contract ends, the decrease in the factor could impact future tuition rates with these students, said Kelly.
The school has about 115 students from Arundel. With the state imposed cuts, that means a loss of nearly $50,000 a year.
In the future, with the possibility of all student tuition impacted, the school could lose $500,000 a year, said Kelly and while the newly founded boarding school program should help offset funding shortages in the future, it won’t solve any problems immediately.
— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, Ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.
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