By Lisa Wilcox
Staff Writer
CARIBOU — Over 200 residents of Caribou, Limestone and Stockholm attended the Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 District Budget Meeting held at Caribou Middle School on May 29. Attendance at this year’s meeting was up dramatically from 2012 when only a little over 30 people were there.
The order of the night was to present the School Board’s proposed 2013-14 school year budget article by article to the public for their approval.
Aroostook Republican Photo/Lisa Wilcox
Caribou voters, from left, Michael and Sue Keaton and Larry Knight, were among the many to raise their yellow slips in favor of the articles that made up the proposed 2013-14 school year budget at the RSU 39 district budget meeting held at Caribou Middle School on May 29.
Patrick St. Peter of Limestone was elected as moderator of the meeting and was sworn in by Frank McElwain, RSU 39 superintendent of schools. St. Peter then swore in Laurie Chapman and Diane Pelkey of the superintendent’s office as ballot clerks.
McElwain advised attendees that the board met its goal of presenting a flat budget when compared with last year. He explained the challenges the board faced with issues such as a $155,000 reduction in state revenue, a $98,000 decline in student tuition and a 13 percent, or $300,000, increase in health insurance costs.
In addition, due to an incline in the amount of more “medically fragile” students with conditions such as asthma, seizure disorders and diabetes, the RSU’s nursing staff had to be increased from 2.5 to three. There were also staff changes by turning the part-time vocational food services teaching position into a full-time culinary arts teaching position and the addition of a special education teacher.
To save money, McElwain explained, the district installed wood chip boilers at Caribou and Limestone schools and will be moving the superintendent’s office from its current location alone in a building on Sincock Street in Caribou to an office space at the Caribou Learning Center.
The school district also offered retirement packages to eligible teachers, which they feel there were enough participants for it to have been successful in reducing cost. The district also saw staffing reductions of six full-time and one part-time position, and the special education department put forth effort to reduce participation in the out of district placement of students.
McElwain then explained the components of each article of the budget. Articles 1 through 11 represent expenditures and the following figures were proposed:
• Article 1, Regular Instruction, proposed budget of $6,950,801, up .2 percent from last year.
• Article 2, Special Education, proposed budget of $2,417,616, down 7.6 percent from last year.
• Article 3, Career and Technical Education, proposed budget of $1,266,220, up 3.8 percent from last year.
• Article 4, Other Instruction, proposed budget of $680,492, up 2.9 percent from last year.
• Article 5, Student and Staff Support, proposed budget of $1,797,464, up 6.9 percent from last year.
• Article 6, System Administration, proposed budget of $561,315, flat with last year.
• Article 7, School Administration, proposed budget of $892,602, down .7 percent from last year.
• Article 8, Transportation and Buses, proposed budget of $1,000,366, up 1.7 percent from last year.
• Article 9, Facilities Maintenance, proposed budget of $3,047,792, down .3 percent from last year.
• Article 10, Debt Service, does not apply, as RSU 39 does not use debt service.
• Article 11, Other Expenditures, proposed budget of $103,603, up 3.2 percent from last year.
• Articles 12 through 14 represent revenue and the following figures were proposed:
• Article 12, State/Local EPS Funding Allocation — Caribou, total appropriated, $12,256,964.17, total raised, $2,885,132.50; Town of Limestone, total appropriated, $2,674,937.96, total raised, $547,019.50; Town of Stockholm, total appropriated, $275,249.45, total raised, $120,433.50.
• Article 13, Non-State Funded Debt Service, none.
• Article 14, Additional Local Funds to be raised and appropriated, $531,575.
The remaining articles were as follows:
• Article 15 summarizes the proposed school budget total figure of $18,718,271.
• Article 16 authorizes expenditure of grants and other receipts.
• Article 17 authorizes the adult education program, appropriating $273,611, and raising $85,000 as the local share.
Voting then commenced on each article, except 14, by a show of hands. Article 14 was required to be voted on by written ballot. All articles were easily passed with Article 14 approved by a vote of 173 to 36.
McElwain concluded the meeting by explaining that that evening’s budget meeting was only the first step of a two-step process. The proposed budget would now go to a validation vote held on Tuesday, June 11.
Voting will take place in Caribou at the Wellness Center on Bennett Drive from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; in Limestone at the town office on Main Street from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and in Stockholm at the town office on School Street from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The next regularly scheduled RSU 39 School Board meeting will be held this evening at the superintendent’s office at 7 p.m.
Aroostook Republican Photo/Lisa Wilcox
Eastern Aroostook RSU 39 school board members, from left, Mary White, Lynn McNeal, Michelle Albert, Dale Gordon, Clifford Rhome, Kent Forbes, John Sjostedt, Finance Director Karen Nadeau and Superintendent Frank McElwain watch as ballot clerks Laurie Chapman and Diane Pelkey count the votes cast for Article 14, which appropriates additional local funds, of the RSU’s proposed 2013-14 school year budget.
