SCARBOROUGH – More than 200 residents packed the Scarborough Town Council chamber May 29 to argue that no additional cuts should be made to the $38.86 million school budget, despite its rejection by voters at the polls May 14.
Although the budget went down in a 643-898 decision, 60.8 percent of voters – more than actually voted against the school budget – checked a ballot box calling it “too high.”
In response, the school board voted 4-2 at its May 23 meeting to reduce spending by $54,000, or 0.13 percent. Subsequently, an email campaign staged by some school staffers, along with a message to parents by board Chairwoman Christine Massengill, sent over the school department’s so-called “robo-calling” system, urged parents to turn out to the first council reading of that new budget figure.
The result was a standing-room-only, capacity crowd, which spent nearly 90 minutes urging the Town Council not to make any additional cuts at the final reading of the budget on June 5, held after The Current’s deadline. The budget approved at that meeting will go to voters at the polls June 11.
Much of the admitted angst was due to the fact that the council has made no bones about its collective desire to hold the school board to a 3 percent annual spending increase, counting the school’s food service program. That would mean carving an additional $391,400.
According to a tiered priority list approved by the school board, foreshadowing where they would find that money, a rollback of the size thought to be eyed by the council would mean eliminating arts and music instruction at the primary schools, an “across-the-board” shave to athletic and after-school activities, and the loss of up to six positions.
Superintendent George Entwistle, whose first pass at a budget for the 2013-2014 school year included a 10.7 percent spending hike, has called the council’s 3 percent goal “fairly random.”
Out of dozens of residents who rose to address the council, only two, David Green and Ted Meserve, backed the 3 percent goal, initially set as a spending cap by the council in January.
Green, of Beech Ridge Road, said the balance of the crowd was operating under “a common misconception.”
“We’re not talking about cutting the school budget,” he said. “It’s going up from what it was last year. And by doing so you are asking me to pay more in taxes, which I cannot afford to do anymore.”
Combined, the school’s operating budget and the food service program in the budget rejected by voters was up 4.01 percent over this year’s spending. That includes a $2.58 million, or 9.25 percent, boost in salaries and benefits despite the net addition, according to Entwistle, of just one part-time language arts position.
However, because of a $1.8 million loss in state subsidies – based on the fact that Scarborough property values have continued to grow at a modest pace while those in other towns have remained static, or fallen – the 4 percent spending increase translates to a 7.9 percent spike in property tax bills. If that jump passes voter muster, it will mean a 22.6 percent spike in local taxes in the past four years.
“Don’t ask me to increase my taxes,” said Green. “There’s a lot of people in this town on fixed incomes who can’t afford this kind of increase.
“Instead, my recommendation to all these parents who’ve shown up tonight,” said Green, pausing briefly at the podium in order to turn and face the audience. “I’m going to ask you to reach into your wallet and pull out your checkbook, or $100, or $500, and make a donation to the school department.”
“I don’t think the citizens who voted against the school budget necessarily don’t support the students or the school,” said Meserve, of Harlow Street. “It’s more about the budget and the economy we live in.”
Meserve also addressed the predominant theme of the evening – that the May 14 vote did not reflect the true mood of the town because the turnout, while a record for any ballot featuring just the school budget, amounted to just 10 percent of registered voters. Much has been said in Scarborough since May 14 about how the result was driven largely by senior citizens upset over the town’s continual climb in taxes.
“It really sound like you want to start a generational war or something,” said Meserve, who concluded, “I don’t think you can judge the quality of education just on the amount of money you pore into it.”
While a number of subsequent speakers stressed no animosity for seniors, the predominant mood was that, contrary to Meserve’s assessment, a school system is only as good as the public is willing to spend on it.
“The budget presented was skin and bones,” said school board member Kelly Murphy. “The wheels on this train are about to come off. Shortchanging our school system year after year is shortsighted and a recipe for a situation that will take years to recover from.”
“When you look at all the children in this room, I wonder what they dream to be? The next President of the United States? A modern Picasso? The next Mozart? The scientist who will cure breast cancer?” said Thomas Drive resident Kerry Goulder. “Our kids dream big. What do we tell them when the budget continues to be cut, get a new dream?”
“Because of a cut in funding, my children will not receive an education that would empower them to do good in the world,” said Omer Kerem Durdag of Haystack Circle. “Is it that I exaggerate? As someone who is immensely involved in the collegiate level advisory boards of this state, I already see Scarborough students who are ill-prepared, not maximized to their potential and who cannot be what they are meant to be.
“A cut would be unethical because you take from our kids’ ability to make a living and change the world,” said Durdag. “Increase the budget by several million and you have my respect.”
A number of parents said they moved to Scarborough because of its strong school system, while others raised the specter of defections from the town, or an exodus to private schools, in the wake of a council cut to the school board spending request.
“We moved to Scarborough because of the schools,” said Derek Volk, husband of Republican state Rep. Amy Volk. “We were living in Portland and wanted better schools for our kids. I am very worried that my 9-year-old will not receive the same education my 19- and 22-year-olds did.”
“You just can’t cut money if you want quality, and if you do I’ll have to take my kids elsewhere,” said Holmes Road resident Danielle Sullivan.”
Amid claims that the school department already runs short of supplies like paper, pencils and text books, and that maintenance projects are too often deferred, Paul Koziell offered an assessment from his experience as chairman of the Wentworth School building committee and his day job in the construction field.
“This budget, like every budget I have ever worked on, large and small, is not supposed to make everybody happy,” he said. “Instead a budget through compromise is supposed to make everyone reasonably unhappy.”
Already, the school budget includes $623,500 in cuts ordered by the Town Council just before the May 11 vote. That reduction is based on the assumption that a plan by Gov. Paul LePage to shift half the cost of funding teacher pensions to the local level will not pass muster with the state Legislature.
If that bet fails, the school board and the council will have to work to find that money amid any other cuts the council may order before the June 11 do-over vote. However, even if the bet pays off, there will still be a price to pay.
According to Jim Rier, the deputy commissioner of education, if the Legislature does remove the retirement obligation, the Department of Education will have to recalculate subsidies, which will result in Scarborough losing roughly $143,000. Entwistle has said if that happens, Scarborough will enter the new school year treating that figure as a starting curtailment.
Thomas Drive resident Kerry Goulder makes a plea for Scarborough’s $38 million school budget at a special Town Council meeting May 29, at which councilors held a first reading of a second go at the budget, following voter rejection at the polls May 14.Send questions/comments to the editors.
