Every year during the spring, an approved school committee budget is presented to the Biddeford City Council for their action to finalize the Biddeford School Department’s budget. Again, this year, the citizens of Biddeford will be provided an opportunity to vote on the school budget on June 10. This vote will only be on the school’s portion of the budget and not the municipality’s portion.

As any Biddeford citizen who follows the school’s budget process knows, the development of the school budget begins long before the city council vote. The six schools, and various other departments, deliberate and submit their budgets to the superintendent of schools before going on vacation in December. Once the budget is compiled, the superintendent and business manager review every line in the budget with the appropriate supervisor for accuracy and relevance, assuring that each request is necessary, appropriate and matches the direction/vision of the school department.

Over the course of the budget process, the school department lost $311,000 in state subsidy reductions and another $65,000 in last-minute federal Title 1A reductions. As an attempt to offset the loss of revenue, the school department worked to build partnerships and shared service agreements with the communities of Dayton and Old Orchard Beach to help reduce costs to Biddeford taxpayers. These partnerships have brought more than $100,000 in new revenue to the school department. I strongly believe that over time we will continue to see greater savings by working with surrounding communities.

Throughout this budget process, the school department has been extremely transparent about the items that are included in our budget and the actions that were taken in order to reduce the budget to the current figure. We have posted all reductions and the detailed budget on the school department website for full transparency at biddefordschooldepartment.org. The School Department Finance Committee reviewed each and every line of the budget for even greater scrutiny.

Even with the reduction in subsidies, the Biddeford School Department is pleased to present a budget with a $117,000 increase to the tax rate, or .54 percent, because of increased revenues and savings from past years. This budget number includes the cost of two new buses at a cost of more than $162,000. The school department will receive 100 percent reimbursement for the buses by the Department of Education in next year’s subsidy. The school committee and finance committee felt that purchasing the buses knowing that the school department would receive full reimbursement during the next subsidy cycle was a wise use of funds so that we can avoid bus purchases at local expense. Please also note that this .54 percent increase includes debt service on the newly renovated high school.

Please take some time to learn as much as you can about the 2014-15 school department budget. I am happy to answer any questions that you may have about the process, revenues, shared services or any expenditures. I will be available to answer your questions regarding the school budget on Monday, June 9 at McArthur Public Library on Main Street at 11 a.m.

The budget validation vote on June 10, 2014, is your opportunity to have input on the Biddeford School Department budget and the future educational programming for the children of Biddeford.

— Jeremy Ray is the superintendent of the Biddeford School Department.

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