By Amanda Estes 

Staff Writer

South Portland School Board members said they never thought the day would come when they would be relieved in the face of nearly $700,000 in state revenue reductions, but after anticipating $1.1 million worth of subsidy reductions last week, school officials unanimously adopted the roughly $42.7 million budget on Monday. 

 A city council public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. on April 2 at city hall. According to the school administrative reorganization law, all school units will be required to host a school budget special referendum election, following city council approval of the school budget and within 10 days of a public hearing. If the budget does not pass, there will be another public hearing and following that, another election. Should voters fail to accept a budget by July 1, the latest budget submitted will be considered the budget for the ensuing year until a final budget is approved. 

 The taxpayer-supported portion of South Portland’s school budget currently totals roughly $33.8 million – a 2.28 percent increase in expenditures from last year. The budget would translate into a 36-cent increase in the city’s tax rate for education from $8.71 per $1,000 of assessed value to $9.07. 

 While supporting the budget with a 6 to 0 vote – board member Karen Callaghan was absent – school officials acknowledged the numbers could change again with a swipe of the Gov. john Baldacci’s pen. 

 “This is a time to realize we lost $700,000 worth of support for our schools just like that,” school board chairman Richard Carter said during Monday’s meeting. 

School Business Manager Polly Ward said administrators learned they would be receiving roughly $4.1 million in state funding from Rep. Jane Eberle, who was in Augusta last week. 

“About 20 minutes before the workshop on Wednesday night last week, the superintendent received a call from Jane Eberle…who said she was walking out of the State House with the Commissioner of Education Susan Gendron and they were talking about the situation in South Portland and how we were expecting to lose $1.1 million and the commissioner told Jane, ‘Oh, no, that’s changed, you’re going to get more money.’”

Ward said the school administrators later confirmed that figure and “we were able to go back to the board and say we do not have to cut as deeply as we thought we would.”

Last week, the school board was looking for roughly $500,000 worth of cuts in addition to $852,000 worth of position cuts outlined in Godin’s initial budget. 

The 18.2 proposed to be cut included five elementary school educational technicians, two middle school library clerks, one business office clerk, one middle school home economics teacher, one technology integration teacher, one high school English teacher, a high school career preparation teacher, a high school learning alternatives teacher, two special education high school teachers, a bus driver and a custodian. Ward said, however, the board was able to restore roughly $296,000 and nine positions including the five educational technicians, the two library clerks, a business office clerk and a home economics teacher. 

Ward said 9.2 positions will be cut from the budget, mainly through retirements or attrition. 

An additional $297,000 worth of savings were realized by reducing the buildings and grounds budget for maintenance by $253,000; reducing the Mahoney Middle School co-curricular stipends by roughly $7,600; reducing the Memorial Middle School co-curricular stipends by roughly $6,200; eliminating the high school pep band stipend for roughly 1,500 and reducing athletic stipends by roughly $20,800.

Revised Redistricting Plan Approved

The school board also unanimously approved a revised “redistricting” plan that will transfer 141 elementary students to a new school next year. 

More than 20 parents spoke out against the redistricting process on Monday night, as parents had done throughout a series of budget workshops last week. The revised plan will affect 29 fewer students, but parents once again urged the board to postpone its vote. 

“I would put money on the fact that this probably will not solve our problems either,” said Michelle Murray, who asked the board to tell her where her daughter would be going to school next year because she was unsure. “I see a city being torn apart. We should seek professional help. You are in the business of education, not of demographics or strategic planning. I expect you to know your customers and meet their demands.”

Godin has said a redistricting plan is needed to balance enrollment trends, to ensure demographic equity in the city’s five elementary schools and to allow English Language Learner (ELL) students to attend their home schools. The majority of ELL students currently attend Brown Elementary School and Mahoney Middle School, where they have access to instructional support programs.

Parents responded to Godin’s initial redistricting plan – presented to the school board and the public on Feb. 28 – with anger and, in some cases, tears. That plan would have affected 170 elementary students and 13 middle school students.

The revised plan – inspired by a citizen proposal – affects 141 elementary students and 13 middle school students.

All ELL students would have returned to their home schools, with the exception of Small Elementary School students, who would remain at Brown.

Students living in the Brickhill, Anthoine Street and Highland Avenue to Evans Street areas will attend Brown Elementary School. Nutter Road, Nelson Road, Allen Road and the Williston Road areas will be transferred to Dyer Elementary School. Main Street area students will attend Kaler Elementary School. Students living on 200-340 Broadway and the Mitchell Road area will attend Small school. 

Brown, Small and Kaler students to the intersection of Broadway and Evans Street will attend Mahoney, while Dyer, Skillin and Kaler students, including Evans Street, will attend Memorial.

With the revised plan in place, the 2009 projected enrollments are 262 students at Brown, 256 students at Dyer, 238 students at Kaler, 395 students at Skillin and 279 students at Small.      Dyer Principal Colleen Fleming said administrators will work together to ensure a smooth transition for students moving to a new school next year. From class visits to pen pal programs, students will be given opportunities to explore their new school and meet new classmates, Fleming said.

“We will be limited only by our imagination,” Fleming said.

It would make sense to keep students who are leaving one school to go to another school, in the same class, Fleming said. She said administrators will also ensure student records are transferred successfully.

Board member Richard Carter said he was “heartened” by the number of parents who wanted their children to stay in their current schools.

“We have five great schools,” he said. “There is no child who is going to lose in this process in the long run.”