By David Harry

Staff Writer

South Portland Board of Education members decided Monday to vote a week earlier than originally planned on the fiscal year 2012 budget.

Board members, who will vote at a 6:30 p.m. meeting next Monday at Memorial Middle School, signaled this week they are uncomfortable with city council guidelines for a flat budget.

The education budget will be presented to the city council at a meeting 7 p.m. next Wednesday at city hall.

The vote on the budget was scheduled for April 11, which would have given board members a chance to hear city councilors comment on a proposed tax increase, School Board Chairman Ralph Baxter Jr. said.

Baxter said the suggestion to vote on a new budget prior to the council meeting came from District 5 member Tappan Fitzgerald and he agreed the earlier vote would establish board priorities for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

A budget total was still under consideration at a board workshop held Wednesday after the Sentry deadline. Board members showed little inclination Monday to adhere to a city council’s request for no property tax increase.

Superintendent Suzanne Godin has proposed a $37.8 million fiscal year 2012 operating budget to keep the taxpayer share for education constant at $10.06 per $100,000 of assessed value. The current city tax rate is $15.70 per $100,000 of assessed value for the municipal budget, including education. 

Keeping the tax rate constant would mean the reduction of 21 school district positions, Godin said.

Board members at the budget workshop discussed a 1 percent budget increase of $337,000 to restore positions prioritized by Godin and the board during budget deliberations this month.

Monday’s workshop at Skillin Elementary School drew more than a dozen students and parents who asked board members to spare the teaching position for the department’s academically gifted program that serves third- through 12^th-graders.

The program combines learning in math and language arts for about 3 to 5 percent of the city’s students. The program has two teachers who shuttle from school to school.

Luke Turner, a fourth-grader at Brown Elementary School, was the first to address the board about keeping the position. He said the classes keep him engaged and out of mischief.

“I only go to the principal’s office for good things now,” he said.

Teacher Deborah Crimmins, who told board members she would be laid off if a teaching position is eliminated, said a program with more than 90 students throughout the city “would be very, very, very difficult to maintain” with one teacher.

Expenditures on the list total $463,000. Godin said $92,000 in unused federal jobs bill money is available for the list. That leaves board members $35,000 to cut before approaching the council, which has the final say about how much is spent on education.

Board members in the past few weeks have rejected a plan to raise $128,000 through co-curricular fees for middle and high school students. Baxter said he and the board did not vote on the plan, but there was no consensus to support it.

Godin has suggested reductions to seventh- and ninth-grade athletics programs, eliminating the high school ice hockey team and removing almost $13,000 from activities and the band budget to offset the budget gap.

Baxter said board members support consolidation of custodial services, which is anticipated to save as much as $392,000 annually by reducing five positions and changing the structure of services.

Board members, including Richard Carter, said seeking a 1 percent education spending increase is fair, given a projected 2.5 percent increase in municipal spending. 

The board also balked at the idea that $543,000 for renovation and expansion of South Portland High School should be seen as an increase in the education budget,  saying the operations increase is separate given voter support for the $41.5 million school bond passed last November.

The funding for the project adds 20 cents of the proposed 33 cents in property tax increases for the entire municipal budget submitted by Gailey last week.

A council vote on the school budget is scheduled for April 25. The budget referendum is May 10.