New school district, new school board, new budget process

With the issuance of the certificate of organization by the State Board of Education, Regional School Unit #78 has been officially formed. The recent special election on Jan. 19 has formed the new representative school board for the Town of Rangeley, Dallas Plantation, Sandy River Plantation and Magalloway Plantation.

Newly elected members include Ginny Nuttall, Pam Ellis, Barbara Burgess and Laura Haley for the Town of Rangeley. Jennifer Farmer and Rick Godaire were elected from Sandy River Plantation. William Roy and Nicholas Gumprecht represent Dallas Plantation. Carol Hall represents Magalloway Plantation and Jaime Lavallee was elected alternate member for Magalloway. The Town of Rangeley will have a run-off election on Feb. 11 for its fifth school board member seat.

The elected members will be participating in a new school board member orientation workshop by Maine School Management Association on Feb. 9. The State Board of Education will then be setting the first school board meeting. This meeting should take place at the end of February.

The new board will be busy from their very first meeting. Between the first meeting and assuming responsibility for the district on July 1, they will be working on adopting policies, reviewing legal requirements of the new district and most importantly working on the 2010-11 school budget.

The next school budget will be very challenging given the current state of our economy. School districts in Maine have been dealing with a $38 million curtailment in the current 2009-10 budget. This translates into a reduction of state funds for RLRS of approximately $20-30,000 in this year’s budget.

The state’s commitment to education next year will be decreasing from 55 percent to approximately 43 percent for 2010-11. It is anticipated that the state will reduce funding to education next year in the amount of $92 million. This will mean a loss of state revenue for RLRS next year in the $40-50,000 range.

The state funding formula, the Essential Programs and Services model is based on property valuation and student enrollments. While the student enrollments have remained relatively consistent over the past few years at RLRS, each of the towns in the new district have experienced increases in property valuation. The four towns in the district saw a $32 million increase in property valuation from 2008 to 2009, based on state figures. With relatively high property valuations in the area, RSU #78 is considered by the state as a “minimum receiving” district when calculating the state’s share of education.

The economy and reduction of state funding will all play an important part in the challenge of developing the next school budget. The new board and I will be looking closely at all aspects of the budget in order to bring a reasonable and justifiable proposal to the voters that support the educational needs for children attending RLRS.

With the formation of the new school district, residents will notice that the budget process will be different this year. The new board will work on the budget from the beginning of March through May. As the result of the reorganization, the new board will present the school budget at a district Budget Meeting in May to all of the residents of the four participating towns. Following the successful passage of the budget at the Budget Meeting, a budget validation vote will take place in each of the district’s towns.

There will be more information available as we move forward. I encourage your input into the process. Feel free to contact any of the newly elected school board members or myself with your feedback.

Brian Foster is Superintendent of Schools for RSU #78.