001It's not very nice. Actually, there are. >> All right, we are going to get started. I just want to remind folks that if you are a registered voter, you just need to check in with your town to make sure you have your yellow card. I think everybody's is yellow, right? yellow card and um because that's what we're going to use to vote today. Okay, let's get started. Well, good evening. Welcome to the annual budget meeting for the RSU 5. Uh we are talking this evening about the budget for the 2026 2027 school year. Um we appreciate everyone taking the time out uh to join us this evening. I think the weather probably helped us some. If it was a beautiful night, we always get less participation. So, thank you all for for uh for joining
002us this evening. We will get started with the pledge of allegiance. Flag is up here on the wall behind you. [snorts] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So, as we've done for the last few years, I do have some remarks to begin the evening and then we will get move on to the official part. Um, so good evening everyone. Uh, welcome to the RSU 5 annual budget meeting for the proposed fiscal year 27 budget. My name is Michelle Richardson and I have the privilege of serving as the chair of the RSU5 board of directors. On behalf of the board, thank you for being here tonight and for your continued engagement
003in the work of our schools. Public participation matters deeply in a community-based school system, and tonight is an important part of the process. Over the last several months, the board of directors has worked closely closely with Superintendent Gray and district leadership to develop a budget that reflects our priorities as a district. [clears throat] Excuse me. while also recognizing the very real financial pressures facing our communities. Throughout this process, we have sought to balance three important responsibilities. Maintaining strong educational opportunities for students, supporting and retaining highquality staff, and remaining mindful of the impact on taxpayers and the long-term sustainability of the district. From the beginning of the budget process, the board has welcomed community feedback through public comment, budget workshops, listening sessions, and surveys with staff, and ongoing dialogue with the community members. We remain committed
004to transparency and thoughtful engagement as we make difficult decisions together. The board adopted the FY27 operating budget and it totals 47,613,420 representing an overall expenditure increase of 7.1% over the current year. As has been true for districts across Maine and throughout the region, negoti negotiated salary and benefit increases remain the largest driver of budget growth. Those increases account for the majority of the overall change in the budget and reflect both contractual obligations and the importance of remaining competitive in attracting and retaining excellent educators and staff. At the same time, the board worked hard to lessen the impact on taxpayers wherever possible. To help reduce the local tax burden, the district is applying $885,000 from the undesated fund balance towards the budget. The estimated tax impact to the towns is 5.46% in Durham, 3.97% in Freeport,
005and 5.81% in Pano. Even with the use of fund balance and other cost-saving measures, this budget required difficult decisions. Our first and most important priority throughout this process was maintaining highquality programming for our students. In order to retain the overall, excuse me, restrain the overall increase as much as possible, the board and administration carefully reviewed staffing levels and class size data across the district and ultimately recommended targeted staffing reductions in areas where the impact on students would be minimized. Those decisions are not made lightly. They are not a reflection of the value of the individuals or the programs reflected. Rather, they reflect the difficult reality that rising costs increasingly increasingly require districts to make careful choices about how best to allocate limited resources while continuing to preserve strong educational opportunities for our students. Even with
006those reductions, the board has remained committed to maintaining class-siz guidelines and preserving the core educational experience across all schools. A second major priority in this budget cycle is maintaining supports for students, particularly those with significant needs. This includes funding for critical special education services, including the addition of a speech language pathologist and a teacher of the death, as well as funding for outofd placements. These investments reflect both legal obligations and our commitment to ensuring that all students receive the support and services they need to access their education successfully. A third priority is maintaining safe, secure, and well-maintained learning environments across the district. This budget continues the district's long-term commitment to the timely upkeep and responsible stewardship of our facilities, infrastructure, vehicles, and equipment. The board has remained committed to budgeting with a savings mentality rather
007than a debt mentality. making steady planned investments in maintenance and replacement so the district can avoid costly emergencies and significant borrowings in the future. Our goal is to ensure that we never face a facilities issue whether in our buildings, transportation fleet, or operational infrastructure that would require the district to borrow or tax its way out of a crisis. We believe that proactive planning and consistent investment ultimately saves taxpayers money while protecting the long-term stability of the district. Most importantly, this approach ensures helps ensure that the district's focus remains where it belongs on student learning, student safety, and the educational mission that our facilities exist to support. Ultimately, this budget reflects our shared belief that strong public schools remain central to the strength, vitality, and future of our communities. The board is deeply appreciative of the
008continued support that our schools receive from the residents of Durham, Freeport, and Powell, and we thank you for the trust you place in us to carry out this work. It is our sincere hope that the budget we present tonight strikes the right balance and reflects our community's shared commitment to supporting students while sustaining the long-term health of the district. Following tonight's meeting, we also encourage you encourage all registered voters to participate in the budget validation referendum on Tuesday, June 9th at your local polling stations. Thank you again for being here tonight and for your continued engagement with RSU5. At this time, I will ask the superintendent to call for nominations for the moderator to begin the annual budget meeting. I think you're going to do it up there. Good evening everyone. I'm Tom Gray. I'm
009the superintendent. Our first action tonight is to open nominations for the election of a moderator. >> I nominate Gregory M. >> I have a nomination, a motion from Michelle Richardson for Gregory M and a second from Kelly Sink. Are there any other nominations from the floor? Seeing none, I close the nominations. All in favor of Gregory Im to serve as moderator of this meeting, please say I. All opposed, please say nay. All in favor? >> Thank you. Any opposed? >> The eyes have it. Gregory M is elected moderator. >> [clears throat] >> Greg, please your right hand. And please read this. I, Gregory M, swear that I'll support the Constitution of the United States and of the state of Maine so long as I shall continue to be a citizen thereof, and that I will
010faithfully discharge to the best of my abilities the duties incumbent on me as moderator of the regional school unit number five budget meeting on May 13, 2026, according to the Constitution and the laws of the state of Maine. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, again, my name is Greg M and uh I'm pleased to moderate and guide you through this meeting. Um, my first order of business is to swear in the ballot clerks and I'll represent to the meeting that uh out in the lobby. I met shortly a few minutes ago. I met with the ballot clerks out in the lobby and they took a similar oath to the one that I just took. Um, if if somebody objects to me doing it ahead of time and would like me to swear them in again, I'm
011happy to. But if there's no objection, we'll consider them sworn in. Okay, seeing none, we'll we'll consider them sworn in. Um, let's see. Next is the rules of procedure. I'm going to use the main moderator's manual, which is, you know, the the procedural rules that are almost universally used throughout Maine at town meetings and school budget meetings. Um, is there any objection to using the main moderators manual this evening? Okay, we'll go with that. Um, let's see. By law, a person who's not registered to vote in in the RSU or any of the three towns is not permitted to speak at the meeting without consent of twothirds of the voters. Um, however, we do have some administrators who um are not voters and they may be asked to provide information or answer questions that come
012up tonight. And so I will ask for your consent to allow these administrators to speak, address the meeting just to provide information, answer questions. If they wanted to speak, you know, for or against a a motion, then that's not what we're allowing now. Um, and I would take that up as it as it came up. Okay. So, any any objection to letting the administrators uh provide information? Okay. Okay. Uh, so this is actually not a schoolboard meeting. It's a meeting of the legislative body of the RSU, which is you guys, the people that chose to show up today. Um, and your job tonight is to uh pass a budget, approve a budget for the next year. And that budget will be submitted to a secret ballot referendum on June 9th at local polling places where
013you can vote yes or no to what comes out of this meeting. Okay. Uh, the agenda for the meeting to approve this budget is is the warrant that was um available out on the tables in front. Um I um I'm going to go through the articles in turn. I'll read the article. I'll look for a motion and a second and then I'll open up the floor for discussion. Uh please use the microphone for um discussion and questions. Um it it helps to be heard and also we're recording this so uh you need to use the mic to be uh recorded. um if you just start doing a motion or a second, things like that. Um that you don't have to come to the mic. Um let's see. Uh when you when I recognize you, state
014your name and the town you're from. Uh all questions should go through me. I'll find someone to answer it if uh if that's what's appropriate. And keep your remarks relevant to what the motion is on the floor, what we're discussing. Then um I'm going to leave you with one procedural tool. Um sometimes discussion at meetings, town meetings, school budget meetings goes on for a while and you know we feel like we're hashing over uh trotten ground. Um if if you think that we've discussed it enough and you would like to stop discussion and move to a vote, you can do that by making a motion. Say I call the question. I move the previous question. There are no magic words. You can just say, I just want to stop talking about this and let's vote.
015Um, the motion requires, it's a little extraordinary to cut people off. Uh, so it requires a twothirds vote of the meeting. Okay. Um, and as mentioned before, we're going to vote by the yellow cards, mostly by hand count. There is one article that is required by state law to be voted on by secret ballot and we'll uh talk about that procedure when we get there. Um I don't have anything else. Uh Jenny McManus is our recording secretary and she's here somewhere. Um and I think that's it. All right. So I'm going to launch into the meeting. Uh starting with article one. Hang on one second. Okay. Article one. To see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for regular instruction. The school board recommends 20,129,173. Is there a motion? >> So
016moved. Second. >> Okay. So I'll interpret that as a motion to uh approve article one as written. Um, [clears throat] it's been moved and seconded. So, I'm opening the floor for discussion. If you have a comment or a question, please come to the mic. State your name in town and and uh yeah, please. >> Thank you. I'm Mora Pillsbury from Freeport. I'd like to make a motion. >> Is now an appropriate time to make a motion to amend article one? >> I'd like to make a motion to amend article one to add $214,000. >> Okay. Hang on one second. 214. >> Yes. >> Okay. So, the motion is to increase um the number on article one by $214,000. Is there a second before we discuss? Is there a second to the motion to amend to
017increase the dollar amount? Okay, we have a second. So, I'll let you start. >> Okay. Thank you very much. So, first I want to start by thanking the board and the administrators so much for all of your dilig diligent work on this budget. Um I really appreciate it. Um I'm a mom of both a Freeport Middle School student. um as well as a mass landing um school student. Um over 80 students and teachers at Freeport Middle School signed a petition asking for the French enrolled cultures teacher position to stay in the budget. Um and as a parent, I strongly feel that I want my um children to be able to have an opportunity to learn more languages and not less. And I hope um that that can be a possibility in all of our schools.
018So, I know that it's up to the board, I believe, and the administrators what you do with this money, but my proposal would be to put $107,000 toward um restoring the French and world cultures teacher. And then my second um part of my motion is to restore the ESOL teacher. I know we increasingly are seeing um trauma in our um immigrant community because of increased ICE enforcement and I feel that now is the time for us to keep our supports in place for our students and families um in this regard. So those would be my request that um that the money be put toward those two positions. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. And I'll just repeat what she already mentioned is that uh the meeting is here to decide the budget and we can
019make changes and vote on the dollar amounts. What the board uh what is done with those dollars is up to the board. So if you say you want to restore a specific position that's not binding on the board, but the meeting can change the dollar amounts. So is there any more discussion on we're on the motion to amend. So, you know, pros and cons, discussion about uh increasing the article one by $214,000. Yes. >> Hi, uh Mike Shaw from Freeport. I would support uh Mora's motion because um I believe uh world language is extremely important. Uh, and if I had my way, I would probably add more and get it into the Mass Landing and other elementary type schools. So, I support Moore's motion. >> Thank you. Um, can everyone hear the folks at the
020microphone? Okay. Any more discussion on the motion to amend? >> Good evening. I'm John Jakes. I'm also Freeport. But I would also like to voice my support for the uh position, the French position and uh the additional position of $200,000. It's a much needed program for French in the middle school. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. Anything else on the motion to amend? Yes, sir. >> My name is Peter Enwini. I live in Southport. Um I would I would reject the motion. um to increase the budget, you've already increased it threequarters of a million dollars. So, if you can't squeeze out 14 grand out of three4ers of a million dollars, you're not doing a really great job. Thank you. Okay. Anything else on the motion to amend? Okay, seeing none, we're going to vote.
021And we're voting now with our cards and we're voting on whether to change the dollar amount that we'll vote on later. So, all those in favor of the motion to amend to increase the dollar amount in article one by $214,000. So, signify. Thank you. Opposed. Let's see this again. Okay. All those in favor? Opposed. Okay. I'm going to call the opposed having it and motion fails. >> The moderator. >> Yes. I'd ask for a roll call. >> Yes. Um how about instead of uh let's Could I get the ballot clerks or at least uh yeah ballot clerks in? And so we're going to do this by hand count. We're going to they're going to count the number of things and see if I was right or wrong. Okay. So, um and do you guys have
022a kind of a system on who's going to count where and Okay. Okay. So, once again, all those in favor of the motion to amend and keep your hands up. Okay. So, um put your hands down if you guys can. Um well, just combine the numbers and you don't have to say right now. >> Okay. Okay. All those opposed to the motion to amend Okay. So, uh the the in favor of the motion was 43 and against >> 71. Okay. So, the motion to amend fails and we're back to the original motion which is article one in the amount written. Is there discussion on article one? Judith Hall from Freeport. But my question is for the school board and the superintendent. I've been following your meeting minutes and your graphs and your budget. One of
023the graphs struck me so deeply and it was about our reading uh achievement test results for the whole of RS5. It was 52% on your graph. So my question to you is we're paying a lot of money for kids 48% can't read at grade level. My daughter Rachel graduated from Freeport High School. She went on to the University of Maine. She has a degree in teaching. She lives in Florida and teaches in Florida. And the teaching method for reading in Florida, they have methods. One of the methods is systematic instruction in phonetic awareness, phonetic insight words. It's called sits. And the other one is called dibbles dynamic indicators of basic early literacy skills. I want to know what the Freeport Powell and Durham school systems uses to teach our kids reading skills. When I went
024to school, we had phonetics, letter sounds, and by the third or fourth grade, I was reading out loud words that I'd never read before. Our kids, I don't think can I question the school board and the superintendent's curriculum. It's not our teachers fault. It's not our edtech fault. It's the curriculum set by the school board and the superintendent for the teachers to teach by. Correct. So my my question to you is what do you use for teaching methods for reading in our schools? >> Does anyone care to answer that? And you don't have to. >> Judith. So I've just come on here this year as superintendent. Uh, we are using a part we're using a mossflower program in the lower grades. That feels really loud. Um, I've been told I should speak up into the
025microphone and I guess I'm speaking too loudly. That mossflower program has seen specific improvements within the past several years that are exactly what you're talking about. um specifically aimed at phenemic awareness and our test results for our youngest grades where that has been piloted are bearing that out. They're extremely strong and I would predict that that will continue as those kids who have that new curriculum continue to to get older. Um it als we also use a program called Heggerty which is specifically aimed at phmic awareness and I I hear your comment and we are definitely addressing that. Thank you. Um, I do want to let you know that their program where my daughter teaches is through the 12th grade, K through 12. They give the te kids their help, the help they need. And
026until I see better results, I'm not going to vote for this budget. Our kids are suffering. And it's now the teachers are suffering. We need to get our te our kids reading from all grade levels. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yes, sir. Again, Peter and report. So, I assume that the 3.9% increase that's uh shown on the budget here is primarily due to pay increases. I also because when I look at project teachers class size per grade um I don't see those numbers having gone down uh in other words having less student per teacher. So that's what my assumption is and if you could validate that that would be great. Thank you. >> Before you go can I just get a clarification for your question? So I the first part was is the majority
027of the increase relative to umaries salaries and benefits. Yes. The answer to that is yes. And I'm sorry I didn't quite get the second piece about the second class size >> and class size determines the number of teachers and the salaries associated with them. >> So is that class size gone up or gone down? Really? That's my question. So, um I would say overall it's gone up a bit, but still within our class size policy, we did look at staffing across the district in in uh in an effort to um contain the the cost increases for the year. So, we reduced some teachers in uh positions where we felt like we could do that and still remain within our class size policy. Um but yeah, we're not looking at adding any positions to bring down
028class sizes. in the class size policy is 20. >> It depends on the grade level. The younger grades, they're smaller classes. Um it varies from I I believe 16 uh for the youngest prek. Um and then in high school, obviously they can be higher based on on depending on the class. So um >> Okay. Because I don't see high school on here. That's >> Yeah, the high school is a little tougher because they have, you know, the uh it's not just splitting all the kids evenly. They get to pick which classes, so it varies. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any more discussion or questions on article one as written? >> Okay. Seeing none, we're going to vote again by show of cards. All those in favor of article one as written. Thank you.
029Opposed. Okay. So, article one passes as written. Article two to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for special education. The school board recommends 7,510,422. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Is there a discussion on article two? >> Okay. Seeing none, we're going to vote on article two. Yes, sir. >> Hold your comments till you get to the mic. So, >> want to make sure that folks at home can >> My only question with with article two, Peter and from report um is that it's been increasing pretty much at a at a million dollars. So, is there something that has been occurring in the last four years that has actually increased this line item more than um other activities like we're at 15%. So, is there something in
030the environment in Freeport or Palo or Durham that's creating an issue for us as opposed to just giving money um to to this area? So, I don't know if it's environmental or if it's just I don't know. I mean, it doesn't make sense to me that in the special needs that our special needs has gone up so much more than normal other budget items. >> Thank you. So I would say that um what's a little bit different about special education uh and the funding for that is um it's very much driven by the specific kids that we have with us right now. Right. And one of the one of the larger increases in that area this year is the addition of I mentioned it in the the opening remarks about the teacher for of the
031deaf and the spe uh excuse me the speech language pathologist and those were driven by specific needs for kids. we had in in the district. Um, and we are um we are legally obligated to provide those services and I would argue morally obligated to provide those services to the students who show up at the schools in RSU5. Um, so one of the big increases this year was those two positions and those two positions are actually um in we're paying for those now. uh we didn't know about them last year because the students hadn't joined us yet, but once they come, we have to provide the services. This year, we're funding that out of a reserve account, which is why we set up these reserves for unanticipated changes in the kids that that show up um
032on the on the first day of school or whatever day of school they arrive. And um and so that's what those reserve accounts are for. So, um, some of those increases that you're seeing for this year are specifically related to that and because we're moving that into the budget, um, because we can't really say we didn't know about it next year when they're here now. So, it's >> not an environmental issue. I >> I guess I couldn't specifically say if it's an environmental issue. I mean, there has been changes in sort of behavioral impact of kids that we've seen. Some of those needs have increased in the last, you know, five or six years. Um I I'm not I wouldn't say I'm an expert enough to say why, but >> thank you. >> Okay. Is
033there any other discussion or comments on art article two? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor of article two as written. Thank you. Opposed. Thank you. So article two passes as written. Article three to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for career and technical education. The school board recommends $337,282. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there discussion on article three? >> What? >> She gave a second. >> Yeah. Okay. Discussion. >> [cough] >> Yes, sir. >> Hi, Don Lipoth from uh Freeport. My question only really is what is the definition of the technical education? I love that question because that's an easy one for me to answer. Um, so this article is specifically around region 10, which is the area uh career and technical education school. So we
034partner um we send students to the school. It's in Brunswick. So Brunswick High School sends their students, we send ours, and um Mount Ararat also is a sending school. So those three schools all um have students that go there halfime. So they spend half the time in in their sending high school and then half the time at region 10 and they have a variety of programs from automotive to um engineering. They're starting an HVAC system uh program next year. Um so it's a it's a variety of of programs like that that um students can um choose to take classes there. >> Okay. And so basically when I went to school you're taking shop and everything else that used to be here but no longer here. >> Yeah. So it's it's similar. So they still split
035their time half and half. Um but >> and and we have at least a hundred kids who attend that. >> No. Um so of course we don't really have control over the price of the facility. We're paying >> them for that. >> I would say yes and no. Um so the how region 10 works is they have their own school board and their school board is made up of um people that the sending district sends. So we have two people from the RSU5 board that actually sit on that board as well. Um so and that's the group that creates very similar to what we do but just for the high school for the for region 10 high school. Um so we do have um we do have representation on that board and creation of the
036budget etc. >> Yeah. But essentially we still just >> it's like a subcontractor. >> Sure. Yeah. >> Okay. [laughter] Thanks. >> Thank you. Any other discussion, questions on article three? Okay, seeing none, all those in favor of article three as written. Thank you. Opposed. Thank you. So, article 3 passes as written. Article four. To see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for other instruction, the school board recommends 1,172,539. >> So moved. Second. >> Okay. Is there discussion on article 4? Okay. Seeing none, all those in favor of article 4? Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article four passes as written. Article five. To see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for student and staff support. The school board recommends $4,96,366. >> So moved. Second. >> All
037right. Any discussion on article 5? Seeing none. All those in favor of article five is written. Thank you. Opposed. Okay. So, article five passes as written. Article six. to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for system administration. The school board recommends 1,38,08. >> So moved. Second. >> Is there any discussion on article six? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article six passes as written. Article seven to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for school administration. The school board recommends $2,638,024. >> So moved. Second, >> anyone on? Yes, sir. [clears throat] Peter has report. Um, I've reminded this to the school board and to the public that um, the RSU was created to make administration effective and efficient. Um, we
038still are waiting for that effective and efficient process because every year the administrative cost keeps going up. Thank you. >> Any other comments on article seven? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed. Article 7 passes as written. Article eight to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for transportation and buses. The school board recommends 2,388,457. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 8? Yes. Just so you guys Don Leah Freeport I don't want to date sounding argumentative. That's not the point. Um, I'm going to assume that most of this is because of fuel costs. Is that correct? >> Fuel cost or field cost? >> Fuel. You says buses, buses, and transportation. Correct. >> So, um, this includes I mean fuel is included in here. Um, I
039don't I wouldn't say a large percentage of it is driven by fuel. Um I think a a fair amount of this is relative to um the vehicle and fleet replacement plan I mentioned in the opening um the opening remarks uh where we are creating a system to um get our fleet in a position where we don't have to lease buses anymore and pay the interest costs. So, um, so we have a four or five, I think this is year two of a four or fiveyear plan to get that in place. So, we no longer need to lease buses. Um, and part of this increase um is offset with some of that use of fund balance. So, that >> Okay, thank you. You're leading me into my second part of my question. What type of vehicle
040is this? >> This is all the vehicles we have. So obviously we have school buses. We have a a pretty uh robust fleet of minivans to move kids throughout the district as well as out of district schools. Um we have uh um uh pickup trucks for the the maintenance crew and and fields and grounds. Um couple of gators, all sorts of I guess my question is more of what is this being powered by fuel or by electric? >> We do not have any electric buses. Um, electric buses are I think close to half a million dollars a piece. >> Three times more expensive. That's why I was asking. >> Yeah. >> And um I do know that other school departments have opted to buy electric lawnmowers and things like that which are three times the
041cost. So just because I wasn't at your meetings, that's what I'd like to know. And thank you. >> Thank you. Yes, sir. >> Hi. Um, throughout the the budget, no name in town. I'm sorry if I haven't been consistent with that. >> Uh, Patrick Leonard, Freeport. Um, throughout the budget, uh, I was looking across uh, salaries and benefits, and I noticed in most cases they're radible increases. This, uh, looks like one of the exceptions where the increase to benefits actually outstrips on an absolute dollar basis salaries and on a percentage basis uh, quite significantly more. I was curious what drives the benefit increase here so much higher than across the rest of the the budget. >> But your your question was specific about transportation though, right? >> Yeah. So why is the increase for transportation
042as a percent so much larger >> and on an absolute dollar basis greater than the the salary increase even? I'm not sure it is on a >> well I guess >> 90,000 in benefits versus 80,000 in salary I believe. So, I didn't I didn't fully hear your question, but what I can tell you is that we have just negotiated a new contract for all our support staff. And what we've noticed in doing that is you've asked about transportation, but we found that many categories of our support staff, bus drivers and van drivers among them, were not paid or compensated as a whole nearly on par with other districts around us. And as you can imagine, if we can't get the kids to school, we can't have school. We are having a real problem recruiting drivers,
043a real problem. So, there were um generous incentives in the new support staff contract to try to create correct that problem. >> And yeah, that that's that I I expected that. My follow-up question then is are benefits the right recruiting tactic rather than salary when both have the same? What I can tell you is that that was what was asked for in the negotiations. And um I don't want to speak for all of our our bus drivers and van drivers, but I think it's fair to say that many folks in those positions actually are heavily in incentivized to take those positions because they have benefits. And so that's a really important piece for those people. >> And also while we're negotiating contracts, we don't know because we start this process before we finish the contract
044negotiation. So, um, the the amount in the lines might not in it's it's in the article, but it's not all split out because we don't know how it's going to break out in the end. So, if that makes sense. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments or discussion on article 9? No. Article eight. Okay. Seeing none, we're voting on article eight as written. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed. Thank you. Article 8 passes as written. Article nine. Uh to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for facilities maintenance. The school board recommends 5,993,777. >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion on article 9? Hi, my name is Fred Palmer >> from Freeport and I have a question on the capital reserve replacement for the track. Doesn't
045appear that there's any allocation this year. Is I may be reading this wrong. >> 30 $35,000 a year. Is that correct? >> That is yes. So that um that doesn't show up in the budget articles because that moves from undesated fund balance into the um into the reserve accounts. So it's not the dollar amount wouldn't be included in the um >> yeah. >> So um the second question would be how much is in that fund for replacement? >> Hold on just a second. >> Do we know the answer to that? >> Uh 315,000. And how old is the track? >> Five years. Six years, >> I think. Seven or eight. I know. Time flies. It >> does when you're having fun, doesn't it? >> Yeah. So much fun. >> Um, okay. I would question for
046the future whether or not that's enough to replace what is going to eventually need replacing, but that's just a comment. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I would like to make a motion to amend the capital expenditure for free high school tennis court design services $41,500 to be removed. So the motion is to reduce uh article 9 by $41,500 >> along with tennis court addition $510,000. >> Okay. So the overall motion is to reduce the uh number in article 9 by $551,500. >> And again this is an addition to the existing tennis courts. Correct. No. So, a couple of things. I think the number you're thinking about is actually in the reserves in a later article. It's not the one article 9 that we're talking about right now. Um, so article 9 does not
047include the $501,000. There's no expense. That 5,993 that we're talking about, that does not include that $51,000 you're talking about. >> So, that tennis court is not in this capital. >> That is not in this article here. So, that >> it's on a different one. That would be a later article where we're looking to similar to the track and field reserve move money into the reserve specifically for the the tennis courts. Um but uh to answer the question about in addition to the courts, it is not um so we currently have three courts right outside the door here. Um they are deemed unplayable right now. They cannot use them. So they need to be replaced. Um, so that is what we're talking about later in a later article about moving money into the reserve account
048um to to fund that replacement um of the >> Okay. It's just confusing how you've written it on the >> I know it's hard because the first articles are the expenditure articles. So what we will spend the funds on. >> Thank you. >> So um there hasn't been a second to your motion. I I'm not sure if that discussion changes your motion. >> It changes it. Please remove my motion. >> Okay. So, um, any objection to her withdrawing that motion? Okay, seeing none, that motion to amend is withdrawn. And we're back to article 9 as written. Any more comments on article 9? Okay. All those in favor of article 9 as written. Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article 9 passes as written. Article 10 to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized
049to expend for debt service and other commitments. The school board recommends 1 million71,577. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 10? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed. Okay. Article 10 passes as written. Article 11 to see what sum the regional school unit will be authorized to expend for all other expenditures. The school board recommends 69,795. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 11? >> Yes. >> Hi, I'm Ayanna Johnson. um a free port and I just had a question about this one because obviously I'm pro nutrition and kids having nutrition and I guess the question was why what's the cause for the number going down? What are we subtracting in there? >> I can answer that for you. Uh so um the way nutrition works is a
050lot of the nutrition funding comes from the number of meals that we serve. Um and now that the state offers um free breakfast and lunch for all students. Um so we get reimbured for all of those meals that we sell from uh from the state. Um and because of that so historically we have had to supplement um how much they were receiving to make sure that the program was um was adequately funded. Um I will give a shout out to our nutrition staff. they have done a fantastic job of of increasing participation in the program and with the increase in funds. Uh we don't have to subsidize that program with as much funds. So we are not cutting any anything out of the program. It will run as usual. They will continue to do wonderful
051things to feed our children. Um and uh they just need less funds from the district in order to do it. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Just an additional piece of interesting information is that there's a cap on the amount of money that we're allowed to keep in our school nutrition bank account. Basically, it kind of runs as a separate self- sustaining program because, as Michelle said, it's mostly reimbursed by the federal and state government. And actually, the past couple of years, we've had too much money in that account and we've had to come up with a plan to spend it. And as we were looking at the budget overall and thinking of areas where we could make cuts that were the least impactful, when we're being told we were taking in too
052much money in this area, that was just a natural choice. But it's I can absolutely understand the question because on its face it looks like why are you cutting kids lunches? But those are some of the reasons behind it. >> Any other discussion on article 11? Okay. Okay. All those in favor of article 11 as written. Thank you. Opposed. Okay. Article 11 passes as written. Okay. So, the next three articles are to raise funds to support the budget. Um, article 12 to see what sum the regional school unit will appropriate for the total cost of funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the essential programs and services funding act and to see what sum the regional school unit will raise and assess as each municipality's contribution to the total cost
053of funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the essential programs and services funding act in accordance with the main revised statute title 28. a section and the recommended amounts are presented in two columns. The left column is the total appropriation. It's um what the state determines is uh basically what's needed under the EPS formula to provide a basic education. Uh that total number is 27,289,150.99 and it's broken out per town. Above that on the right hand side is how much um the state uh requires pay uh in order to receive state subsidy. Uh the total amount is 20,341,3818. Uh and again it's broken out by towns. Right above that uh there's an ex statutory explanation below uh that I'm not going to read unless someone would like me to. Okay.
054Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion on article 12? >> Yes sir. >> Peter from any report. So I mean this happens every year. So it's always an interesting uh question. So why does Freeport or the RSU uh why does the RSU spend more money than required by the state to get the benefits that we would get out of the state? So we've done this I think every year um at least for the last seven that I can remember. Um, so why is that? Isn't isn't the the 20 million enough? Because you got 27 million you're asking for. So that's the question that as a taxpayer um it really is is are we getting that [clears throat] much benefit out of the $7 million additional cost that you're adding
055on to us? I don't know. So you you're supposed to tell us that you know this number will buy you this kind of performance, these kind of benefits. I don't hear any of that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any other discussion on article 12? Oh, just changing seats. Okay. All those in favor of article 12. Thank you. Opposed. Thank you. Article 12 passes as written. Article 13. To see what sum the regional school unit will raise and appropriate for the annual payments on debt service previously approved by the regional school unit voters for non-state funded school construction projects or non-state funded portions of school construction projects. In addition to the funds appropriated as the local share of the regional school unit's contribution to the total cost of funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade
05612, the school board recommends 17,1757. Once again, there's a statutory explanation that I won't read, but unless you want me to. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. Okay. >> Any discussion on article 13? >> Yes, sir. Hi, John Eaggan. Um, town of Freeport. What happens if this, well, this article in particular, I guess, is what prompted my question. What happens if a particular article doesn't pass? Is there a default number that goes back to or what happens with that section of the budget if it doesn't if that article doesn't pass? I >> I don't think we leave until we have an amount. Is that right? I I don't think we I mean I guess we could vote zero. Um but I I think uh every article Well, I don't know. >> The
057question is what happens if article >> I'm looking at this one because debt service is like we don't really have a choice. We're going to pay the debt service. So that's why I'm asking the question about what happens if the amount itself doesn't get passed. So we just keep voting on amounts. >> Um I >> until we do get a pass. Yeah. >> Well, I mean if if article 13 doesn't pass, then the school board will have a revenue problem. Right. >> And they'll have to find some money elsewhere. >> Right. But there'd likely be a motion to just adjust the number until we do get a I guess I'm I'm just curious about like debt service is not generally something that you can sort of feel good about or feel bad. I mean, you
058have to pay it. So that's why I was just curious about what happens if we don't we don't actually get a vote to approve a particular article, but it sounds like we just keep voting until we do have an approval, >> right? Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions or discussion on article 13? Okay. All those in favor of article 13 as written. Thank you. Opposed. Thank you. Article 13 passes as written. Article 14. This is the article that's required to be done by written ballot. Um to see what sum the regional school unit will raise and appropriate in additional local funds. The recommended amount is 17,556,695.97, which exceeds the state's essential programs and services allocation model by a recommended 17,486,9900 97 as required to fund the budget recommended by the school board. Um,
059and the school board gives the following reasons for exceeding the state's essential programs and services funding model. And that is the state's essential programs and services funding model is a minimum model to support education in grades prequ prek to 12. RSU number five provides additional funds to support lower student teacher ratios and additional co-curricular activities in addition to complete educational programs for all of our student all our students. Uh again once again statutory explanation in italics. Let me know if you want me to read it. Okay. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion on article 14? >> Okay, seeing none, we're going to move to vote. And again, uh you should have gotten a yes, no slip of paper. No. >> Okay. So the procedure is to vis
060go see the clerks >> with your card >> and they will punch your card and give you a yes no ballot and and then you deposit in the ballot box. Um can someone just double check that the ballot box is empty. >> Fair enough. Okay. So let's proceed to vote and we'll kind of be at at ease until we're done. How's it going? I can't answer any questions. rest. There you go. Heat. That sucks. Okay. >> Thank you for that question. Yeah, I mean it's there's a number of Where did my wife go? Oh, there she is. Thank you. Don't be drink. funny surprised about that like oh no on the thing of the loudest I thought for sure I would see some of them there's there's easy about it like strike it down that
061way why go through all this like be wast you know what else are you watching the Republican governor. >> So maybe that's your base, you know, do what you got to do. usually do that too. Yeah, I tried to uh I tried to probably. >> Okay. If if anybody wants to vote and hasn't yet, this is your last opportunity. So, last call for votes. >> Okay. So, I'm going to close the voting. Oh, do we have one more? Okay, I'm going to close the voting and ask the clerks to count the ballots. Better. also She's good. Thank you very much. Okay. So, we'll come back to order and I'll announce the results of the written ballot on Article 14. Uh yeses were 84, nos were 29 and one blank. So article 14 passes as written.
062Uh article 15. Article 15 to see what sum the regional school unit will be will authorize the school board to expend for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 from the regional school units contribution to the total cost of funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the essential programs and services funding act. Local funds for non-state funded school construction debt services. Additional local funds for school purposes under the main revised statutes, title 20A, section 15690, unexpended balances, tuition receipts, state subsidy, and other receipts for the support of schools. The school board recommends 47,525,420. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion on article 15? Seeing none. All those in favor of article 15. Thank you. Opposed. Thank you. Article 15 passes as written. Article 16
063to see if the regional school unit will appropriate 137,888 $838 for adult education and raise 88,000 as the local share with authorization to expend any additional incidental or miscellaneous receipts in the interest. and for the well-being of the adult education program. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion on article 16. Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed. Okay. Article 16 passes as written. Uh the next few articles um deal with reserve funds. So article 17. Shall the school boardized to expand from reg from the regular instruction reserve fund as needed in the discretion of the school board? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion on article 17? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article 17 passes as written. Article 18. Shall the school board be authorized to expend
064from the student and staff support reserve fund as needed in the discretion of the school board? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion on article 18? >> Okay. All yes. Yes, sir. >> And I guess this question is going to be real easy because all the ones that you have that are under the discretion of the school board. Is that saying that you guys can decide where to take the rainy day fund for basically all the ones that have on discretion of the school board? So this section here, uh, we have specific reserve funds sets set up for certain articles. So the first one was for regular education. This one is, um, student and staff support. So there's $6,000 in that reserve account. Um, it basically says like if there was a need for for
065something, we wouldn't have to go back because the way without this article, we would have to go back and have one of these meetings if we wanted to spend any of that $6,000. So basically what it says is that Yeah. So the the administration can't spend the funds without informing the board and the board um voting on that to use those um reserve funds. So there's the undesated fund balance and then there are these specific article reserves. So this is talking about the article reserves. >> So basically you're just putting a cap on each one of the things that you're asking for because you it's not like you can take the administration money and this money. It's only the money that's already allocated in each position. >> Yes. So, the the the ones we voted
066on before, correct? >> Um is is what we're going to spend this we're already approved to spend this year, like if we needed some if something came up. So, the the teacher uh the um excuse me, the speech pathologist I mentioned earlier in special education that came out of the reserve fund that we had set up. So instead of um having to have one of these meetings to hire that teacher to use those reserve funds, this allows us to make those decisions within those specific parameters that fits in the article. >> Okay. So basically, I mean, I know you guys, and don't get me wrong when I say this, I know you guys worked hard to try to get it down because of the complaints of the town, but I mean, I really wish I
067could get raises or get funding like you because I can't do it. I I can't even get a person to agree to $100,000 on a $3 million house. So, but thank you. >> Thank you. Any other comments on article 18? Okay. All those in favor of article 18. Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article 18 passes as written. Article 19. Shall the school board be authorized to expend from transportation from the transportation reserve fund as needed in the discretion of the school board? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion on article 19? All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed. Okay. Article 19 passes as written. Article 20. Shall the school board be authorized to transfer $200,000 from available fund balances to the special education reserve fund and expend from the special education reserve fund as needed
068in the discretion of the school board? >> So moved. >> Second. >> So discussion on article 20. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article 20 passes as written. Article 21. Shall the school board be authorized to transfer $140,000 from available fund balances to the system administration reserve fund and expend from the system administration reserve fund as needed in the discretion of the school board? >> So moved. >> Second. >> So any discussion on article 21? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed. Okay. Article 21 passes as written. Uh, article 22. Shall the school board be authorized to expend up to1,311,270 from the capital reserve fund as needed in the discretion of the school board? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 22? Yes, >> I'm going to make
069a comment. It just appears to me that you are looking at potentially increased costs and want to spend a million dollars in case you need it. And I am making a recommend a motion that article 22 be stricken. If you want to spend a million dollars, I think you should have another meeting to discuss it. So my motion is article 22 should be dismissed. >> Okay. So, I'm going to rule that motion out of order because the article's there and we have to address it. It's part of the agenda. It's part of the agenda and I'm making a motion that members of this voting body think about spending a million dollars at the discretion of the SCO school board without our input. again. So, I'm I'm not going to allow a motion to remove an
070article off the warrant. Um, if you're not in favor of this, then you vote no um on the article. So, any other discussion on article 22? Yes. >> Yeah. Theresa Kelly from Powell. What do we want this money for? >> So, this is a reserve fund. So, this is not um any increased costs in the total budget amount we're talking about. um in the package on um in the the uh budget brochure which I believe was out on the table um on page 13. You can see the items um that were funded out of the reserve account this year. It was a little bit different last year with with how it was done, but um so we have funded things like the the septic system in Panel uh failed and needed to be replaced. Um
071we obviously have a um um a facilities plan where we have a 10-year plan on when things are going to be fixed or replaced or or um updated. And sometimes things happen that weren't according to plan and we will shuffle things around sometimes, but sometimes if something major happens, we need the ability to fund those. Um, and that's what the reserve account allows us to do if there was an emergency or a need to fund something um specific to capital. So, this couldn't be used, we couldn't access these funds to hire a teacher or um it would have to be something related to capital. Yeah, Kelly. And I just want to point out that we are not adding any money to this account. We are only authorizing to expend the money that is already in
072the account. >> Thank you. Any other discussion on article 22? >> Yes, sir. >> Andy O'Brien Powell. Uh, what is the balance of the capital reserve fund? >> Say that again. I'm sorry. What is the balance of the capital reserve fund? >> So the million311. >> I'm going to make a motion that we amend that to $100,000 pending public approval. >> So >> for any any over any amount over $100,000. >> Okay. So I So the motion is to reduce the $1.3 million to $100,000. Is that correct, sir? >> It is. >> Yep. And um if if if that carries, if that passes or if if the article is uh approved at $100,000 uh by law, the board has to go back to the voters to get permission. So I'm not going to put that
073in the motion to amend. >> I >> Thank you. Okay. So, the motion is to amend article 22 to reduce 1,311,270 to $100,000. And it's been moved and seconded. Is there any discussion on the motion to amend article 22? >> Yes. >> Hi, uh, Emily Samson, sorry, that's a lot. Emily Samson from Durham. What would happen if we had an emergency like the septic system at another school failed and the motion passed that you had to go back to the voters over $100,000? Like what specifically would happen? What would be the how long would it take for you to come back to us to get approval? Would the kids have to not be in school in that time? Just as an example, it >> depending on what the issue was. Um I the there are
074um posting requirements for when we can have these meetings. I I'm not sure if you can shorten those for emergency purposes. No, >> it's 7 days. >> Okay. >> This warrant had to be posted at least 7 days ahead of this meeting to be >> so um Yeah. So that it creates timing issues um to if there was an emergent need that um that needed to be addressed. There certainly could be student impact of that. Um, and you know, the other my other concern with the the dollar amount is um, you know, with with seven buildings, um, $100,000 is unfortunately, I mean, it's a lot of money, but when you're talking about a district that has, you know, $20 million worth of real estate, um, it's not that big of a number for an issue
075that could happen in one of the schools. Um, you know, we I think the reason we put these reserves in place is instead of trying to, you know, collect tax money each year to cover, you know, things that may happen but may or may not happen. So, we don't want to keep collecting taxes that we don't end up spending. So, what we have tried to do is build these reserves so that we don't have to put it in the the raise amount of the budget every year. Um, and we have we have the access to those funds if there was an emergency need and we could we could use it. So, um, you know, I I understand that the thought process of, you know, some some restraint and constraints over it. Um, but I think
076the the way it's the way it's created, the fact that it is a reserve account specific to capital um, feels appropriate. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Again, we're on the motion to amend. Any other comments on the motion to reduce this to $100,000? Okay, seeing none, we're going to vote. And again, we're voting on whether to change the amount of article 22. All those in favor of reducing article 22 to $100,000. Thank you. Opposed? Okay. So, the motion to amend fails. We're back to article 22 as written. Um, any discussion on article 22 as written? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Okay. Article 22 passes as written. Article 23. Shall the school board be authorized to transfer up to $35,000 from available fund balances to the track and field capital reserve fund
077and to expend up to $315,000 from the track and field capital reserve fund as needed in the discretion of the school board. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 23? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article 23 passes as written. Article 24, shall the school board be authorized to transfer up to $510,000 from available fund balances to the tennis court capital reserve fund and to expend up to $700,000 from the tennis court capital reserve fund as needed in the discretion of the school board. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. Any discussion on article 24? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. opposed. Thank you. Article 24 passes as written. Article 25 uh shall uh and this is for the region 10. Uh shall the main region 10
078technical high school operating budget as approved by the region 10 cooperative board for the year beginning July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 be approved with the local share in the amount of 4,781,323. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 25? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. opposed. Okay. Article 25 passes as written. Article 26 again and these are uh the next two articles are for region 10. Shall Main Region 10 Technical High School authorize the cooperative board to transfer up to $450,000 from undesated fund balances to the region 10 capital reserve fund. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 26? All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed. Article 26 passes as written. Article 27. Shall Main Region 10 Technical High School delegate authority to the cooperative board
079to expend additional balances accumulated in the region 10 capital reserve fund from time to time on such specific items or types of capital improvements or equipment as the cooperative board determines to be needed by region 10. >> So moved. Second. Okay. Any discussion on article 27? All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article 27 passes as written. Article 28. In addition to amounts approved in the preceding articles, shall the school board be authorized to expend such other sums as may be received from federal or state grants or programs or other sources during the fiscal year for school and other program purposes provided that such grants programs or program turning the wrong page. I'm sorry. Provided that such grants, programs or other sources do not require the expenditure of other funds not previously appropriated.
080So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 28? Okay. All those in favor? Thank you. Opposed? Thank you. Article 28 passes as written. Article 29. Shall the school board be authorized to transfer amounts exceeding 5% of the total appropriation for any cost center to another cost center or among other cost centers for the 202627 fiscal year. provided that transfers shall not be permitted to increase the authorized total school budget. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Any discussion on article 29? Okay. All those in favor of article 29. Thank you. Opposed. Okay. Article 29 passes as written. Uh that's the end of the business for this meeting. Jenny, do you have everything you need? Okay. And I just want to remind everybody that um the budget that was approved today again it's going to the
081polls for a yes no vote on June 9th at your local town polling locations. Um so at this point I'd entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All those in favor of adjourning. Anybody want to stay? Okay.