Wiscasset school administrators want to make two half-time jobs both full-time and buy some technology next school year, when staff costs are projected to hike. The School Committee got its first look at budget requests from schools and the athletic department, and heard a mixed bag of income and cost projections, on Feb. 25.

The committee said little, other than to ask a few questions. When Wiscasset Middle High School’s athletic director-assistant principal Nate Stubbert proposed having an athletic trainer at more games, member Eugene Stover asked if Stubbert could serve as trainer instead of hiring out for it.

Stubbert said he was not qualified. “I can tape ankles, and that’s just about it.”

The trainer needs a medical background, Superintendent of Schools Heather Wilmot said.

“Not necessarily,” Stover said.

None of his fellow members backed the idea. “I would be worried about liability,” member Chelsea Haggett said.

This year’s budget had $2,700 for a trainer, Stubbert said; he’s asking for $3,766, a $1,066 increase, to add fall season coverage, he said.

While he’s not looking to be trainer, Stubbert’s job could be growing on a different front. It’s currently a quarter-time each for athletic director and assistant principal. WMHS Principal Peg Armstrong asked for each to become half-time, making the job full-time for about another $33,000.

Committee members wondered if WMHS’ assistant principal could also serve the same role at Wiscasset Elementary School. Wilmot said the position could absolutely be designed for both schools if the committee said to. No vote was taken. It was a workshop session.

Wiscasset Elementary has no assistant principal.

In other requests, Armstong is seeking to restore a half-time alternative education teacher to full-time.

“Our programming for students who struggle is lacking,” Armstrong said. A letter to Wilmot and the committee elaborates. “Last year the alternative education program was reduced and the repercussion has been evident in our failing grades and inability to meet the needs of those students ...,” Armstrong writes.

Wiscasset Elementary Principal Mona Schlein proposed keeping that school’s staffing level flat and buying teachers more technology for the classroom. She is asking for three projectors and 14 document cameras to display what her letter to officials describes as a much wider range of information to a class.

There is no preliminary, grand total yet on the next school budget that will face a series of steps before a final town vote this spring, Wilmot said. She needs the committee’s input on all the separate budget requests before she can put together a whole budget offer, she said.

The panel set another budget workshop for 5 p.m. Thursday, March 3 in the WMHS library, when special education, food services and maintenance and transportation department heads will air their requests.

Wilmot was also looking for, and got, committee members’ direction on her proposal to start a capital reserve account with $10,000 of the $310,000 in unspent, “carryover” funds from the school department’s opening year.

Committee members supported starting the account. The other $300,000 in carryover will be used to lower the taxes that Wiscasset property owners have to come up with, officials said. Officials have expected for months that the carryover money would come through; a recent audit confirmed it, officials said.

The department is also going through with its plan to take over funding the Wiscasset Police Department’s school resource officer. Its first two years, the job was part of the municipal budget.

Some key numbers in the school budget are still in play.

Contract talks with teachers and support staff remain under way, Wilmot said. And state aid is looking up, but the numbers are very preliminary, she said.

“This could change tomorrow. This could change in May. This could change the night before we approve the budget,” she told the committee as she reviewed a handout on state funding. “These are very soft (numbers).”

So far, Wiscasset stands to get $214,199 more than in 2015-2016, according to the handout.

However, another income source, tuition the town gets for out-of-town students who attend Wiscasset schools, is projected at about $950,000, down from $1.2 million, Wilmot said.

Asked Friday about the projected drop, Wilmot said she hasn’t analyzed the figures yet because they are based on information the other school departments provide with the information they have so far, and that it might bear out or not. But at least part of the explanation may be the normal fluctuations in the number of students per grade, just as there are for the number of Wiscasset children in each grade, she said.

The department projects salaries to hike $292,067 and insurance to go up $112,448. Those numbers include both union and non-union, central office and administrative jobs, Wilmot said Friday.

Possible new deal with RSU 12

Wiscasset already helps Regional School Unit 12 plan and oversee bus routes, and should be getting paid for it, Wilmot said. She and RSU 12 Superintendent of Schools Howie Tuttle have started working together on a possible contract that could pay Wiscasset about $13,000 to $16,000, Wilmot said.

“I feel strongly that these are items that ... we should be compensated for.”

The deal may cover parent communication, bus storage,  bus driver supervision and other items, Wilmot told the committee. When drafted, the contract will go to the committee for review, she said.