Voters on Tuesday night approved the $41.7 million Bath-area school budget, which would have a negligible effect on taxes in the region.
About 25 residents of Bath, Woolwich, Arrowsic and Phippsburg — the communities that comprise Regional School Unit 1 — greenlighted the 2023-24 spending plan during the annual regional budget meeting at Morse High School. The budget awaits final approval during the June 13 validation referendum to be held across the four communities.
The budget increased 3.7% over the current fiscal year, mostly due to a $2.3 million hike in staff salaries and benefits. But due to solid revenue, including an unanticipated $488,000 state subsidy increase in March due to a Department of Education calculation error, the combined property tax impact of the school portion for the RSU 1 communities would actually decrease 0.3% if voters approve the budget June 13.
Due to an expected enrollment increase of Arrowsic students, that town’s tax impact for the school portion would be 4.3%. Phippsburg’s would be 2.1%, while Bath and Woolwich would experience decreases of 3.1% and 4.4%, respectively.
“I’m happy with the results,” said RSU 1 Board of Education Chairperson Lou Ensel. “I’m happy we were able to keep the percentages very low and get what we needed so we didn’t have to make cuts. Some places were not in a great place and had to make cuts.”
In Brunswick, the School Board slashed more than $1 million from the initial budget proposal; the latest $52.9 million budget plan represents a 7.1% spending hike and would have a 4.8% tax impact.
The initial RSU 1 budget included about $400,000 for four social workers paid for with federal American Rescue Plan Act funds that were distributed during the coronavirus pandemic and will expire next year. The board moved one of those social workers as well as an interventionist at Phippsburg Elementary School into the local portion of the budget paid with tax dollars. An interventionist focuses on students who have pronounced academic or behavioral issues.
Ensel said the board wanted to make sure it kept at least one social worker in the local budget before the federal money runs out. He said students’ mental health worsened during the pandemic and remains an issue.
“It’s still there, pandemic officially over or not,” he said. “We need the social workers because the pandemic brought to light that the kids need the help. They’ve seen such a difference when kids get counseling.”
During Tuesday’s meeting, which was moderated by John Morse of Phippsburg, the only suggested change to the budget came from Patrick Wright of Woolwich, the parent of two Morse High School students. He said football and basketball coaches at the high school earn a higher stipend than coaches of other sports and moved to add $32,000 to pay the coaches of 16 other sports teams an additional $2,000. His motion was defeated by an 8-7 vote.
Ensel said while this year’s budget process was smooth, next year’s could be rocky.
“This next year is going to be the challenge because it’s going to be the last year for a lot of federal funding,” he said.
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