Approximately 80 residents approved a $26,511,203 education budget for the Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12 upcoming school year during the regional budget meeting in Whitefield June 8.

On June 28, a referendum will be held in the RSU-member towns of Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Westport Island, Windsor, Whitefield and Wiscasset to validate the budget.

During the four and a half hour regional budget meeting residents debated trimming back the budget even further, weighing the tough economic times against the need to fund teachers, staff, facilities maintenance and programs. But the budget amounts recommended by the RSU Board of Directors ultimately won approval by majority vote.

During the meeting, audience members proposed decreasing a number of budget items. Windsor resident Beth Choate proposed cutting back on funding the school district’s central office staff by $50,000. “I’m trying to reduce where it will not hurt the children,” she said. “Secretaries make more money than the teachers and that’s ridiculous.” She also expressed support for reducing facilities maintenance by the same amount, a motion proposed by Whitefield selectman Lester Sheaffer.

Alna school board representative Ralph Hilton said cutting back these amounts will not make a big difference for taxpayers in the overall budget. “Playing nickels and dimes and put our valued employees against the wall is not the thing we’re here to do,” he said. “We’re here to ensure the education of the children of this district.”

Chelsea resident Rick Danforth proposed reducing the additional local funds requested in the budget ($4,498,850). These funds exceed what the state recommends in its Essential Programs and Services Model and are typically used for special education, transportation, extra-curricular activities and to maintain a low student to teacher ratio.

Danforth proposed reducing the board’s recommended amount by $350,000 to minimize the budget’s impact to taxpayers. He said the budget runs the risk of not passing in towns due to high tax rate increases. “There’s people out there that couldn’t make it today,” he said. “And I think for them, we need to reduce this budget by $350,000 dollars.”

Whitefield resident Dean Emmerson said it would be difficult to determine the effects of cutting back on the additional local funds. “Essential Services and Programs was not designed to be what you should spend; that is the state’s minimum that school should spend,” he said. “It was always meant to be the bottom and unfortunately it has become the cap.”

Somerville Board member and State Senator Chris Johnson said the state is involved in a study of the formula that calculates Essential Programs and Services for schools throughout Maine. He said, “what it doesn’t do very well right now is make adjustments for the differences between schools in different areas of the state.”

Whitefield selectman Lester Schaeffer said he supported cutting $350,000 from the additional local funds line in the budget, citing the tax rate increase to towns as his reason. He indicated Whitefield voters would not support the increase.

“It’s unfortunate the state is abdicating its responsibilities,” Whitefield mother of three school-aged children Andrea Lani said. “But that doesn’t mean we drop the kids.” She said Whitefield Elementary, where all of her children attend school, has suffered staff cuts in art and language arts.

“I’m not suggesting we drop our kids,” Danforth said, adding he anticipates having grandchildren attend RSU 12 schools. “I cannot support this budget in my town. I’m all for education, but we’ve got to make a move to keep the costs down so we can keep going.”

Costs have not been decreasing, but the level of state funding may increase, according to Johnson. He said the Appropriations Committee has approved a number of changes and he is confident the RSU is not going to have as low a level of state funding as is reflected in this budget. Johnson said he was not sure how any increases in state funding would be addressed, but reiterated the concern about a cut in additional local funds.

“I just don’t believe that we should sacrifice education for our children,” he said, mentioning the increased workload teachers have faced in the past year to adjust to changes in instruction standards and learning results, and the importance of students’ development of critical thinking skills.

Emmerson said he calculated the average increase for taxpayers across the RSU. For the property taxpayer with a home valued at $100,000 the increase translates to about $83.13 a year. That’s $6.93 per month or $1.73 each week. “I think we should do that,” he said. “I don’t understand how we could do less for our children.”

Whitefield selectman Frank Ober said he considered the $80 – 100 increase he would have to pay an investment.

The motion to cut the additional local amount failed by a vote of 51 (against) and 25 (in favor).

“It’s been a challenging budget process.” Superintendent Elect Howard Tuttle said at the start of the meeting. With a decline in student population and corresponding subsidy from the state, the budget still supports the goals of the board: to provide professional development for teachers and staff; to maintain programs; and to minimize the impact to taxpayers.

Tuttle said his first year as RSU 12 Superintendent will be interesting. He starts his new job on July 1 and faces the possibility of three towns withdrawing from the school district. Their withdrawal does not affect this upcoming school year’s budget, but Tuttle and the board will be preparing the 2014-2015 school year budget differently if Wiscasset residents choose withdrawal in November.