5/20/25 District Budget Meeting

001Good evening and welcome to the RSU 16 district budget meeting. Our first order of business is to call the meeting to order and to do the pledge. So, if you could please stand and the the flag is over to my right, your left. 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. Thank you for being here tonight. Uh my name is Amy Hediger and I'm the RSU 16 superintendent. And so we do have some order of business to go through first before we get to the articles. And the first one is I do need to read the official greetings. And it does state in the name of the state of Maine. You are

002hereby required to notify and warn the inhabitants of each of the municipalities within regional school unit 16, namely the towns of Mechanic Falls, Minina, and Poland qualified to vote in town affairs to meet in the auditorium of Poland Regional High School, 1457 Main Street, Poland, Maine, in the said town of Poland, Maine on Tuesday, the 20th day of May, 2025, beginning at 6:15 p.m. to act on articles 1 through 20 of this warrant to wit. And at this point in time, I'm going to ask our board chair, Mary Martin, and board member and personnel and finance committee chair, Sarah um uh to to do our welcome, Sarah Robinson. Sorry. Well, good evening. Welcome to the RSU 16 district budget meeting. Thank you for taking the time to participate in the RSU 16 budget approval process.

003I am Sarah Robinson, chair of the RSU 16 personnel and finance committee. The RSU 16 budget proposal that was presented this evening is the product of a collaborative approach that includes both school and community. Administrators and central office staff began working on this budget in late fall. Early in the year, a budget committee was formed. The RSU 16 budget committee was made up of town and school representatives. I would like to recognize budget committee members for their dedication and hard work. Community members from Poland, Lisa Albby, Mechanic Falls, Paula Stos, and Minet, Lisa Cesar. Board members Mary Martin, Andrea Wyn, Emily Reninch, Jess Smith, Angela Swinson, and Mike Downing. Central office representatives Amy Hediger, and Stacy Field. I also thank you to the RSU 16 administrators, department directors, and central office staff for their presentations

004and presence at the budget meetings. In a few moments, we will choose a moderator for this meeting, which will be followed by an overview of the budget by Superintendent Amy Hediger and board member Emily Renuch. RSU 16 budget manager Stacy Field will provide an explanation of revenues and the tax impact. But before we start, Mary Martin, board chair will review the budget development process. And thank you, Sarah. and the budget committee met uh in January with all of our administrators to discuss budget priorities and the challenges. Uh administrators then trimmed and then retrimmed the budget before it was presented and discussed in detail in the four budget committee meetings in the month of March and April. The budget committee reviewed every budget line, the warrant articles, and the tax impact, and then approved a proposed

005school budget that was then presented to the RSU16 school board for approval on April 14th. And that's the budget that is before you this evening. All of the actions mentioned previously are part of the budget development process. Tonight, we shift to the budget approval process. It is a two-step process and this evening is step one. It provides the detailed explanation and votes on the individual warrant articles. The budget approved this evening then moves forward to step two, which is the the referendum in each of our towns on June 10th. The written referendum vote is a yes no vote. It's not a line or a cost-c centered vote. So this evening is your opportunity to understand the details behind that yes no referendum on June 10th. So every budget year has its unique challenges and last

006year was as you know particularly challenging and as a result we have made some changes in this year's budget development process and presentation to provide more clarity which will include um more clarity in terms of the referendum articles and also how RSU spending might compare statewide and regionally As a board, we have actively reached out to our legislative representatives and to the Department of Education to share our and your deep revenue concerns. Superintendent Hediger has developed and distributed the annual report and the RSU16 board members have join municipal and community members to look at how the RSU 16 local costs are shared. and we had a public hearing on that just before this meeting and it provided information on a proposed cost share referendum which also you will see on the ballot on June 10th.

007And several weeks ago, the RSU16 public relations committee held a forum to discuss the school budget with community members to answer questions and to gather important feedback. We know that these are challenging times. We live in our three communities. Um we hear you and we do see the needs within our schools and within our communities. We believe that the budget proposal before you this evening supports the needs of our students and as fiscally responsible. We look forward to answering your questions this evening and we thank you again for being here. Amy All right. Article 1A is to choose a moderator to preside at said meeting. Are there any nominations for our moderator? Okay. I have a motion for Colleen Quint and a second from Britney Heman. Any other nominations? Seeing none, we will vote on

008uh Colleen Quint as serving as our moderator for our set our meeting tonight. Uh for that, you are going to need your yellow slips of paper. So, all those in favor of Colleen Quint serving as our moderator of the meeting. All those Thank you. And all those opposed. Colleen, I will turn the meeting over to you after I swear you win. If you could raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear to faithfully perform the duties of moderator for the RSU16 budget meeting in accordance with the constitution and laws of the state of Maine? I do. Okay. Meeting is yours. Good evening, folks. Everybody hear me? Okay. Yep. Great. I'm just uh I appreciate everybody being here tonight as we've said. Um and I'm pleased to be your your moderator once again. I know that

009we have gone through a few of the points about kind of how the meeting works and how the vote happens. But um just because repetition uh helps things sink in and also contributes to transparency. Just a few things I want to say at the at the outset. Some of this some of this I know you've already heard, but it's important to me that we say it again. So tonight's meeting operates as a town meeting. Only registered voters can vote. So when you checked on unrival, you should have gotten these. I just saw a bunch of these waving around. So, I think everyone should be set there. Um, I ask that all questions as well as of course any emotions be directed to the moderator. Um, and that then we can work to kind of identify

010who the appropriate person is to respond to that question. I'll be using the main moderator's uh manual as a guide. And in a few minutes, we'll have uh the superintendent uh thoroughly explain the budget. Um, when it gets time to get to the warrant articles, and we will get there uh before long, I promise. Uh again, many of you were familiar with the process, but what will happen is I'll read the motion uh or I'll read the Warren article, request a motion, the motion will be made, a motion will be seconded, and then there will be discussion. We will have discussion uh on every Warren article that's in front of the body. Okay? When you're making a motion, I'd ask that you um please or second, please identify yourself. Um if you're making a motion

011that mirrors what's in the Warren article, fine to do it from your seat. Um but if you have a comment or a question then we'd ask people to come to the mic and and sometimes I forget to ask people to do this but this is being live streamed for folks at home and so we want to make sure that um even if we can hear they might not be able to. Um so I just want to make sure that we do that please. Um and then after discussion has occurred on a warrant article then we'll close that for discussion. will call the question and there'll be an actual vote and I will reread the article in full immediately prior to the vote um so that everybody knows exactly what we're voting on every time we

012do take a vote. Um terms of paper ballots just so that you know there are no articles um in front of us that require a paper ballot. There are three articles that the state requires an actual physical count to be noted and reported to the state. So we usually do a what's called a division of the room. Um and the ballot clerks will kind of count up each, verify with each other, and then report that in. Um if people do want a paper ballot, um they can make a motion for that. Um and then that motion has to be seconded and then approved by a majority of people here in order to do the paper ballot. And we have the clerks have prepared paper ballots if we need to use those. So you've already heard

013about how the school budget is developed. Um and uh at the district budget meeting tonight, again, we vote article by article. It's important to know that the articles are closed is the term that's used. That means that they cannot be increased. Um they can be decreased um uh and no new articles are permitted. So what you have in front of you is what you have. Um it could be decreased but not increased and no new articles can be permitted. Um and you can only decrease a cost center as a whole, not an individual. There are no line items underneath it. Um, and so if there's any motion different than the warrant article, it would need to be for that entire warrant article and not for a particular part underneath it. Um, and then as has

014been explained, when it comes time to do the vote on June 10th, um, or by absentee ballot ahead of time. Um, that is an up or down vote across all three districts, a combined vote. You vote in your own hometown office. Um, if it passes, it goes into effect on July 1, 2025, which is the start of the new school fiscal year. Um if the budget is not approved, then the superintendent and the school board and the budget committee go back to the drawing board uh which we've done before. Um and then they create a new budget and we go through this process again and then what's called the referendum again as well. So that that is how all of this works. So we're all getting an excellent civics lesson tonight. Um and it's actually

015let me just say it's great to see a lot of people here uh this evening. It's a bigger crowd than usual and um you know democracy is a particip participatory sport. Let's hope it's not a contact sport this evening. That would be my fondest hope. Um, but we always uh we always actually work really well together, which I appreciate about these communities. Um, it's now time for me to swear in the ballot clerks. If you could all just stand and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear to faithfully perform the duties of ballot clerk for the RSU 16 budget meeting in accordance with the Constitution and the laws of the state of Maine? Great. Thank you very much. Oh, yes. Thank you. Thank you for the reminder. So there, yeah, we had such a

016good turnout that we didn't have enough printed warrant articles for folks. So folks can share with their neighbors, but if anybody needs their own copy, we have some right up front. They just made a bunch. I can see, right? Yep. Great. Um, so, uh, let's see what's next. Mary will explain the items, um, uh, that were added to and reduced from the budget. Stacy will review the revenue sources um etc. And then should do the motion for non-residents now. Okay, great. So, one other just quick housekeeping um order of business for folks familiar with the town meeting process. You know that only um residents of the town are allowed to speak um unless they have permission to do so. So, what we'd like to do just in the interest of efficiency is I have a

017list of folks who work in the school district, maybe the correct person to answer a question that somebody here has, but they're not a resident. And so, rather than get their approval to speak um on an individual basis, if a question comes up, we just kind of do it all together. That usually works just fine with folks. Um, so I would appreciate a motion to allow the following individuals uh to speak. They're not allowed to vote, just to be super clear about that, but they are allowed to speak. So, these individuals are Eric Anderson, the PRHS principal, Joe St. Peter, the special education director, John Holly, the operations director, Jess Madson, the Elm Street School principal, Sean Vincent, the uh Whittier Middle School principal, Shelley Pride, adult education director, Mark Politano, technology director, Danell Gendren,

018the PCS assistant principal, and Jill Matthew, the curriculum director. Could I get a motion? Thank you, Miss Heman. Is there a second? Great. Thank you. And I'm sorry I can't see. Oh, Andrea. Thank you, Andrea. Uh, great. Uh, any discussion on that hearing? None other than somebody's phone that was just AI was speaking to us in that moment. Um, then I'll take a vote uh to approve those the formation people to speak but not vote. Excellent. Thank you very much. Any opposed? Great. And the motion carries. Turn it over to you now. Oh, there we go. Great. Good evening everybody. My name is Emily Wrench. I am a school board representative from the town of Poland. In RSU16, we have a new mission. It is creating a better future, one student at a time. To

019live up to that mission, it takes all of us. our dedicated staff, our strong community support, our positive family engagement, and schools where students and staff feel safe, supported, and valued. The school board, budget committee, and administrative team have spent countless hours building a budget that reflects these values. Together, we've worked to ensure every dollar supports our students, staff, and schools in the most thoughtful and responsible way possible, even in the face of some very difficult decisions. We believe that an informed community is a strong community. And that's why you have an important tool in front of you tonight, the annual report and budget book. It is designed to help you understand what each Warrant article means in plain language. Highlight the biggest changes, both increases and decreases, show how this budget supports student learning,

020a safe and healthy environment, and the values of our community. and to reinforce that we are being fiscally responsible with both state and local funds. Next slide. One moment. Thank you. The proposed fiscal year 2026 budget is $29,885,660, which is a budget-to-budget increase of 1.46 million or 5.1% compared to fiscal year 25. This increase is primarily driven by contractual salary and benefit obligations. While we have made reductions in several areas, including staffing and supplies, this budget reflects a careful balance. It honors our commitment to meet student needs and maintain the level of services our community expects while also being responsible stewards of your taxpayer dollars. As we walk through tonight's presentation, you'll see small boxes on the slides that point you to the corresponding pages in your budget book so you can follow along. Now,

021I'd like to hand things over to Amy Hedker, our superintendent, who will walk us through the biggest changes of this year's budget. Thank you, Emily. So now, I know some of you might say that my slides are a little too busy and and that's fair, but I see an opportunity here and the images and visuals are here to show you, not just to tell you how we're using your taxpayer dollars to meet the goals of our strategic plan. So yes, the slides are full uh because our schools are full of great work and I do see lots of staff here tonight as well as some of our students, our young students uh participating in our budget meeting tonight. So to remain fiscally responsible, we've also had to make some difficult but necessary reductions in this

022year's budget. And these were not easy decisions. Just uh we took a very hard look at every line and we fully recognize that these impacts may change have on our staff, our students, and our school communities. And here's what those reductions include. Uh we have an elimination of six teacher contract positions including our our K through8 gifted and talented teacher who is retiring, a learning center technician at PRHS, a classroom teacher at PCS who is retiring, a teacher at ESS, our K6 literacy coach who is moving to an open classroom teaching role, and a one-year position at Woodier Middle School that will not be renewed or filled. We also have two reductions of our support staff roles and that is a student service assistant at PRHS who resigned in a restorative edtech position at Woodier

023Middle School that has remained unfilled. Alongside the reductions we've made, there's also essential investments that included in this year's budget. Each one thoughtfully chosen to support student learning, staff retention, and the smooth operation of our schools. Let me walk you through a few of these uh up there on the screen too. Uh first all is our contractual salaries and benefits. We know to have strong schools, we need to have strong teachers and strong staff. And these are commitments we've made to retain our highquality staff, our teachers, support staff, transportation, food service, maintenance, and our administrators. And we are excited to have a new support staff contract that honors their important role in our schools. Uh we also have capital improvement plan our that supports our long-term maintenance and safety of our buildings and including in

024that is our minet boiler stabilization and the PRHS woodier middle school roof project or partial actual roof project of that. These aren't flashy projects but they're foundational to keeping our schools warm, safe, and dry. You also see up there is what's new is our financial software. We are replacing outdated systems with more reliable, efficient tools that will improve payroll processing and financial operations districtwide. It's the behind-the-scenes investment that helps everything run more smoothly. When your business manager comes to you and says, "Our software has run out of POS and can no longer update," you got to act on that. And it's been a long time coming. We also have network upgrades. As we know, we need to have safe learning environments and that includes the use of technology. These are necessary to provide reliable and

025secure access to technology across all of our schools and buildings, something that's no longer optional in today's learning environments. We are looking at we have a new K through6 math program and accompanying teacher training to go along with that. And we are investing in updating our K6 math curriculum which is more than 20 years old and the professional learning needed for our teachers in order to implement that new program. This will help ensure our KS6 learners are building strong ma math foundations right from the start. And then of course our support for LRTC which is Lewon Regional Technical College uh technical school center. And this continues our commitment to sending students to uh LRTC where they gain valuable hands-on experience in trades and career pathways. Typically, if you've been at any of the other budget

026meetings, uh we've always had zero dollars committed to LRTC. And just like we are facing that their costs are outpacing the the the the EPS funding formula, the state money, this is our portion to send our students to LRTC and we have about 68 students that attend that. And finally, there's two new positions. There's a 0.5 administrative assistant to the superintendent, which helps with capacity and communication at the district level. uh that position was fully cut last year and looking to return a 0.5 administrative assistant and we'll be happy to talk through that once we get to that article. And then a 0.5 multilingual teacher who will provide that support and learning for our growing number of multilingual learners. So we've worked hard to make sure that this budget reflects um um the balance between

027what we need and what we value and what our community can support. And before I move, just to highlight those visuals. Those are our LRTC students who participated in the Skills USA competition in Orino. That's Aiden up there who was named student of the month at LRTC. And those are our sophomores that are visiting LRTC so they can consider all their options when applying to attend LRTC in their junior and senior years. Uh so uh at this point um I will turn things over uh to have us walk through uh I'm going to turn things over to someone who works tirelessly behind the scenes. Uh someone I consider to be our district's unsung hero and that's our business manager Stacy Field who will explain the breakdown of the funding sources and how every piece of

028funding fits together to fund our budget. Stacy. Thank you, Amy. Good evening and welcome again. Thank you for joining us. I will be reviewing the revenue articles with you. This slide shows the pie chart for the general fund revenue allocation. The pink color represents the EPS funding formula which is the essential programs and services. It contains both state subsidy and the required local amount. We have no control over this piece of the pie as it is set by the state. It totals 22912,297 and is 76.6% of our budget. The green color, which is 5,743,630, represents our cost sharing formula, and it is 19.22% of the budget. It includes both local only debt and the additional local funds that we raise. The blue color represents other sources of funding. It totals 1,229,733 and represents 4.11% of

029our budget. This slide shows the pie chart in table form and we'll refer back to it several times. You can see from the top two pink boxes, the state sub the state is making us raise 638,681 more required local dollars in order to receive 37,784 more state subsidy dollars. We will look closer at this on the next slide. And this slide represents article 12. The state subsidy is generated by student numbers, staff counts, an allocation for supplies and equipment, extracurricular activities, administration, operations, and professional development. There are also additional funds allocated for special education and transportation expenses. Our required local is a mill expectation that is set by the state based on valuation only for FY26. That rate is 6.1. It is multiplied by the value set by the main revenue service and we have

030no say in the formula. The val the valuation used for this budget is mechanic falls 238,116,667 minus valuation $291,700,000 and Poland 1 bill36 million566,667. Again, this is the main revenue service valuation, not the valuation set by each town. When these valuations are multiplied by the 6.1 mills, the amounts that we are required to raise are Mechanic Falls 1,452,512, Minet1,79,370 and Poland $6,323,56. We must raise these funds in order to receive our full state subsidy. The district-wide valuation increased by 219,516,668 for the fiscal year 26 budget. By comparison, the fiscical year 25 budget saw an increase district-wide in valuation of 140 million649,999. Returning to the slide table, the green area is actually made up of two separate articles, article 13 and article 14. These two articles are based on the RSU cost sharing formula, which is

03190% valuation and 10% enrollment, which currently is 16.5% for Mechanic Falls, 19.22% for Minet, and 64.28 28% propolent. Again, this is the main revenue service valuation for each town as that is what is used in the school funding calculations. Article 13 is the local only debt. It is the smaller of the green slice totaling $41,68. It covers the middle school edition as well as the minet ADA compliance school revolving renovation fund bond that you approved last year. This revenue article raises the funds and article 10 will authorize the expenditure of those funds to make the bond payment. This article I'm sorry it's back to the other one. Yep. Thank you. The additional local funds is the larger portion of the green slice of pie totaling 5,342,22. It is calculated after all other revenue sources are

032considered. This amount is also distributed based on the RSU cost sharing formula which requires Mechanic Falls to raise $881,410 minet to raise $1,26,935 and Poland to raise $3,433,677. Returning to the table, the blue color shows state revenue and other revenue sources. These funds will be covered under article 20. Other state sources of income include state agency client which are funds received for services of eligible students and the national board certification stipen for nationally certified teachers. There is an additional teacher added to this for FY26 increasing this amount by $3,000. However, there is also a matching expenditure amount as we are just a pass through for these funds. The state sends the funds through our subsidy and then we pay the nationally certified teacher through payroll. Other revenue sources include tuition, interest, income, and the fund

033balance forward. We did not have any tuition students for the FY25 budget, but we do have one, possibly two for the FY26 budget. By law, we can charge either the state average tuition rate or our own per pupil cost, whichever is less. Our rate for high school students is $13,233 while the state is $14,081. That is a savings in RSU16 of $848 per high school student that we spend. Our KA K8 rate is even less. The state is $12,67 while RSU spends $10,969 per student. a savings of $1,98 per K8 student. There is a reduction in the fund balance forward this year of $654,494. You may recall last year we received additional state subsidy of $154,494 in time to apply it 100% to tax relief as voted in these articles last year in budget 3.0.

034and we did that. We do not have that this year. We also applied 1.5 million to the FY25 budget from the fund balance, but only have 1 million to apply this year for the FY26. However, with the tuition income and the 3,000 additional funds for the national certified teacher, the blue section nets out to a $638,279 decrease. Again, article 20 will allow us to expend these funds. This brings the revenue budget increase to 1,456,9 matching the expenditure budget as it must. The total proposed budget of 29,885,660 will appear in article 15. A few other articles that are not part of the PI include article 16, which will ask for $130,000 for adult education. This request has not increased since FY24. Article 17 will ask to raise $543,000 for capital improvements. Article 18 will ask to

035expend more than that 543,000 because we will have carryover from the FY25 budget when we close that out in June. And article 19 will once again ask to apply any additional state subsidy received to be applied 100% to tax relief. Thank you. Thank you, Stacy. And now we'll move on to the slide that I think everyone waits for at the district budget meeting is that is the tax impact on $100,000 home. So based upon the 29 the $29.8 million budget that we have talked you through or that in your your budget booklet and we'll go through all of the articles in Poland the tax impact would be $140.95 mechanic fall $76.66 66 and mine it's $86.17. Um, but you might be thinking, well, wait a minute. It took three times to pass the budget last

036time and our my town sent out the tax bills based upon 2.0, budget 2.0 and not 3.0. And you are right. You you overpaid in your taxes. And so you may want to know how you're getting that back. So, how are you? We we didn't issue the the towns did not issue you a rebate check because that would have been too costly to be able to send rebate checks out. So, the the towns are looking at how they're going to redistribute that overpayment. So, state law says that money raised for education must be used for education. And uh so, if you take a look at that and this was this this causes a little bit of friction, right? Like there's a little bit of rub here of like should we show this one or not

037because it's, you know, is it real? Is it not real? But you did overpay your taxes last year and that was because of you paid on budget 2.0 for for education and not budget 3.0. So following that state law says that education funds must be used for education. What would your um tax impact look like if that was applied to it? Uh then you've got your at the bottom there. So it' be $812 in Poland, $25.28 and mine is $34.95. And I know some of you are sitting there going, "Nope, that's not right." Like we you you got to go with just the top numbers. And I hear you, but I also go back to that state statue of saying, "Hey, you know what? Education funds have to be used for education." At the end

038of the day, I live and mine it, right? So I know that I I know that my I know Minet is going to reduce my tax bills and I I and I trust that they're going to be able to do that. And so if you do have questions about how that's going to appear because, you know, Minet has a different fiscal year. their their actually calendar year versus a a July 1 year. I would definitely contact the the town office to have them talk through because they're smarter than I am when it comes to talking about tax bills. And then the next question that Mary already kind of teed up before is you know that question we know one of the most important questions on your mind is are we spending more than other districts?

039So let's just take a look at this. So first is up there is a per pupil spending and so you can see RS 216 is that first bar and we are below average. The second bar is state average and that's $2537 less and that was in fiscal year 24. So it would have taken $4.3 million more dollars for us to be at state average. So you can take a peek at that just to kind of see where comparable schools were about the same. Um that last bar, you might be going, "Well, what's that last bar?" Well, that's uh MSAD 51 Cumberland Gley. And that's just there for you to have a a point of reference. The next one is our percentage increase. Well, everyone's sort of watching the news and see how how people's budgets

040are passing. We all know that Lewon school budget just passed by 14 votes, right? So, every vote does count. And so, there is that question of like, well, how does our percent increase because 5.1 sounds like a lot. How does that compare to other area districts? And as you can see, we're we're we're like aligned with most other districts. Uh you know, except for MSAD 44, that's the Bethl, uh they're they're seeing a significant increase because they're adding positions into their their budget and they're seeing a 13.6% increase, but all of our other schools here are are right around the same if not we're we're slightly below. And then finally, that one that causes a lot of discussion is that additional local. So that's that that $5 million that Stacy just talked about. Uh and

041that goes to that cost sharing. So okay, so you raise money above EPS, right? It's that portion of the budget that goes above what the state says we have to raise and what they'll give us. And we do ask for more. And um that's because our our our our towns always tell us we want strong schools. These are the things we expect. So this is a really great bar graph for you to take a peek at is how does our additional local ask compare to other districts? And you can see, you know, the next one right next to it is is RSU14 in Windom. That's, you know, a really high one, but if you start to look around at the other at the other districts, we're we're below what other districts are asking. And I

042know there's there's always questions of like, well, there different sizes and different demographics and all of that. Happy to talk through more of of schools that you'd like to look at for additional local, but it's always good to just be able to say, hey, how do we compare to other schools? And so as we close out tonight's presentation because it's time to get Colleen up here. Uh I want to I want to speak not just as your superintendent but as your neighbor, someone who lives here, shops here, and understands the weight of every dollar. We ask you to invest in RSU 16. I want to be very clear. We take this responsibility very seriously. The responsibility to provide highquality education to our students and to be respectful of your hard-earned tax dollars. That's why we've

043reworked this budget six times to get to the one that I'm presenting you tonight. That pile right there is the six budgets that we have worked through in order to get to the one here tonight. RSU 16 is making tough choices. There will be some sadness with with some of the reductions that we have, but this budget reflects a deep commitment to investing to our students all year round while respecting US taxpayers. Um uh every article in this budget is directly connected to our student learning. This isn't just about numbers. It's about people. It's our children, our teachers, our staff, and our community's future. And thank you for being here tonight, for staying engaged, and for helping us shape a school system that reflects the values of RSU 16. Thoughtful, responsible, and student centered. Colleen,

044thank you. [Music] All right, we ready to get to work? So, as said before, I'm going to read each warrant article. I'll take a motion from the floor, a second from the floor, and then we'll have discussion. I will then reread the article, and then we will vote. It's a pretty straightforward process, and it's time to get it started. All right. The first article reads, "Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend 11,470,19 for regular instruction? Could I get a motion regarding article one?" M. Thank you, Miss Human. Is there a second? And Miss Chzray, let's have a discussion. Is there any discussion regarding article one? Uh, yes, sir. If you could, thank you for coming down to the mic. Appreciate that. Hi, I'm Matt Vader. I live in Poland. I have a question

045concerning your slide that you had just discussed. You said 17,000 we're spending per pupil, but yet when you discussed tuition students coming in, the high end was 13,000. Why would we, if we're spending 17, why would we accept someone for 13? So I think the superintendent is looking uh for that right now. So the amount I gave you the amount I gave you in my presentation for the tuition costs that is the state average tuition versus what it costs for our students for 912 because it's 912 that we have tuition students for. The amount that was just on the slide was for K to 12. So it's all the students together. Okay. Averaged. So what does it cost for for that demographic? The tuition students say per tuition student that we have. No, no, like

046the average high school student, I guess. How much does that cost? That was 13,000 for the state versus 12,000. Okay. So they're both the same number then. Yes. Okay. And I I understand that uh that that's all for that that question. But I I understand that we're contractorally obligated to spend money for increases in salaries and and raises and stuff. What metric do we use when the test scores if you just you know those it's just empirical evidence that we have? It's not all-encompassing, I understand, of education, but when our math scores are, was it 23? Excuse me, our reading scores are like what 23% and our math scores are 17. And I know we're comparing them to statewide numbers. Uh Jess had given me I'm not sure where she's at. Uh she had given

047me some. We do have a slight increase in our numbers and that's great, but it's it's like comparing everything to a failing system. We're the best of the failurers. You you know what I mean? I I don't mean that in any disrespect to anyone and I know the teachers are working hard and I understand that and I would love to give everyone a raise, but how do we target? Is it a raise across the board that everyone gets or are excelling teachers are getting that raise and the other ones, you know, that aren't excelling, you know, aren't getting one? I'd first like to say on behalf of I see lots of staff in our in our audience tonight that our staff work very very hard with the best that our families are sending them and

048school has changed and is very different nowadays and we have very high standards in which we are meeting called the main learning results and so that's the entire state of Maine works towards those and that's what our assessments are built on. I'm glad that you can see in your budget booklet to be able to turn to that back there to see our test scores over time to see that we are slightly above state average and that's because of the effort of our teachers that are putting in on a daily basis. Uh as for salaries, those are are negotiated through a collective bargaining agreement with the association. So every two to three years the board will sit with the association team to look at uh comparables in other districts and our district is always slightly below

049average or at average with our teacher salaries. Uh we we do have excellent benefit packages and our staff has excellent culture within their schools which make them want to stay despite them being slightly below the teacher average. Okay. But what metric do we use? Are we giving everyone a flat raise? Yes, we are. Why? Because that's part of the negotiations, the collective bargaining agreement. This we're obligated to be able we're obligated to give everyone that raise. Do we ever let's say we have a teacher that's been there for seven years that's not meeting the the grade so to speak? Do we ever get rid of them? No. We would support them to be able to get them to be where we need them to be to be able to to see the results from their

050students. So really like surrounding them and saying they still get a raise. Correct. Does that pass the common sense test? I know that the labor law is there. If you look at collective bargaining agreements, that's part of the of what we're obligated to do. That collective baring agreement is our legal obligation to pay them. I understand that. But it doesn't Yeah, I get it. Yeah. Um then I guess my next one was we have what 16.7 students per classroom average. Is that across the board or is that just in the high school? Because I read it under the high school numbers. And if that's the case, what contractorally are they supposed to have their max number that they're supposed to have in a classroom? Um our class sizes. There's the optimal class sizes for each

051uh grade level. So there is the lower numbers for the 16 to 18 and the preK through third grade level and then you start to climb up where you have the 18 to 22 in that 3 through six range. And so then that high the middle school and high school is around that 16 to 22 range for class sizes. So what's the contractual obligation that we have for each of those tiers? The contract like the collective bargaining agreement. Correct. like how many what's the max? Um we don't have a max. The the collective bargaining doesn't doesn't set a max. But we also look at uh students need in that class. We also look at the the curriculum. Some of the classes too are meant to be smaller class sizes. So we don't need new teachers

052based upon our class numbers. We don't need additional teachers, right? Like to lower that class number. We're good with that. That's why we've made some reductions to our you saw on the slide there that we have reduced. But most of those were retirees. I saw correct. So we had we we reduced our positions through attrition. So Okay. So you just didn't rehire those. Correct. Thank you. You're welcome. Great. Thank you sir for your questions. Is there any further question or comment regarding article one? Yeah. Ma'am. Jamie Acort. I'm from Poland. If we cut five teachers, one edtech position in the ecology school, why is there a $473,597 increase? if you could just break that down because that seems like we cut a lot of positions but we're still asking for a lot more money when

053we didn't really add a whole lot in place of that is mostly made up of our contractual salary. So if we look at a a general look at that uh with our percent increase for wages as well as uh the increase in insurance you're looking at around what $1.2 million in salary increases. So that's that's the driving force because we've reduced the professional development lines. We've reduced supply lines and then you also saw that sort of that teeter totter on the other side of adding in the math program of of of saying it's time for us to have a new math program. We've we've had that for 20 years and making that decision to move away from that has been a two-year decision. So yes, I can see why you're saying is it's still going

054up even though we've made all those costs, those cuts, but we still need to pay our our teachers and our staff and that show up in are part of that article number one. Uh Mr. Robinson, just on the salary, Steve Robinson from Poland. Um just on the salary things, whatever you just said 1.2, Amy, is that what I Yeah, I think it's 1.2 Stacy. Okay. Yeah. and and and that was based upon I think for the teachers you just mentioned that you just created a new support contract. What percent is that contract for each year in raises? Um we have a six and a half% for our support staff and then a 4%. Okay. And for the current teacher one, what is it? 5%. 5% for three years. And I think that this is the

055third year 5% it'll be a new negotiation. Correct. I I just want to point out to everybody on the school board in ratifying all of these things or whatever is that the colar amounts for the last few years has been 3.25 and 2.5%. So I think it's very important that the as board of directors that you start tying your raises and your contractual things to cola because anybody out here in the whole world that's what happens in social security that's what happens to things to the cola and tying that and when you're consistently up as much as two times that colar amount that really drives things and drives it backs to the taxpayers. So I really want to see this next contract be tied to the colas and so everybody's sustaining themselves and maintaining what

056we have or whatever but it's something that can be supported by the taxpayers and we also need that advocacy Steve too just to sort of as you're walking back is is we do have some state mandates uh as you know potentially that there are state mandates for our support staff our edteexs to be making uh 150% more than minimum wage so that it does bring that wage that that amount up as well as any other support staff at 125%. So that was part of our contract negotiations is to make sure that we are meeting that state law. Um so that is one of those pieces and I know right now on the one of the bills is to to increase the teacher salary too. So we must follow what is what is state law. Thank

057you very Oh I'm sorry Patrick. And I I also kind of want to piggyback off of Amy there. Um, so the state mandate is that the edteexs getund 150% of the minimum wage. The state of Maine sets the minimum wage every single year with inflation. So if inflation the state says inflation goes up 2% that means we have to be 150% of 2%. So we are kind our hands are really tied to act to salaries for the edteex. We are trying our best to keep it as low as we can, giving them a living wage. Um, but our hands are really tied at that six and a half percent this next year. Thank you. Yes, sir. Uh, Matt Verer again. Uh, you mentioned the math program, the changing it. Is that a statemandated change? Nope,

058that is a district. So, that's a choice. Yes. What's What was wrong with the old math program? Well, our old math program was is 20 years old. It's outdated materials in there. Really looking at how do we get I mean you you brought up the the the test scores, right? Like that's that's ultimately our goal too is to increase our test scores and really wanting to be able to put forward the best materials. But we've seen math we've seen scores go up what you said we have. But we want to see them increase even more. So, but if the taxpayer can't pay for increases Mhm. and you're asking for $10 and I only have five, what's the alternative for the taxpayer is they sell their house, increasing the property values because property values are ridiculous

059and then the students that you're trying to get education for can't afford to afford that and they can't get the house and live in their own community. But we also hear the other side too of of wanting our students to be better and have stronger math skills. And so our we spent two years looking at math programs that would be able to help us reach our goals. And we we landed on a new program moving away from the one that we already have and uh and we look forward to being able to have that and be able to keep coming back to you to say, "Hey, you invested in this and here's what the outcome is." All right. But it's an expenditure that we don't necessarily need to have, right? Uh I would disagree. I

060think we need to have that. Our our our curriculum is is old and it's it's not best practice for our students. Okay. Okay. I was going to say something sarcastic, but I'm not. Thanks. Thank you, sir. And appreciate your restraint. Um is uh Yes. Yep. Andrea, is that right, Andrea? I moved to Mechanic Falls for one reason. I needed a place to live that I could afford and I wanted to put my kayak in the water at the same time. I'm standing in this room because of my grandmother whose first teaching assignment was a one room schoolhouse in Cornville, Maine. She was the teacher, the principal, and the custodian. lighting the stove every morning, teaching kindergarten through 8ighth grade all day long, and filling the wood box at night. She taught me that uh the

061place we live and the place that I have in life is pretty great, so I should pay it forward. I chose school board to pay it forward. And I'd like to tell you what I've seen in the last three years being on the school board. I've seen dedication to students curriculum and the RSU uh 16 facilities. This is the I am more impressed by this system than any school system I've ever seen in the last 40 years since I've been volunteering at schools. The uh Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. Um the point is um my grandmother also had a saying that you can't be penny uh wise and pound foolish. Today we have a budget that is lean and extremely pennywise. Uh the extreme cuts are coming now because of the budget uh free we had last

062year and uh we've already had to cut five positions. We've cut the ecology school that was uh a program that we had for 20 years and uh more a steer cuts are going to compromise the safety and excellence of this school system. More severe cuts are going to mean paytoplay severely reduced or no sports and activities at all. more cuts are going to mean that we close buildings, that uh our class sizes are going to double, and we're going to have to have a consolidated uh elementary school. I'm asking as a school board member, as a property taxpayer, and a social security pensioner, I do understand, but we can't be pennywise and pound foolish. We will compromise RSU16 safety and our excellence. Thank you. Thank you very much. There any additional comments, sir. Does it

063have to be a question or can it be a comment? Either one. Yeah. All right. Wonderful. So, just clarifying. So, hi, my name is Is there any way to raise this and we'll talk that I think that's fine. So, my name is Tony. Um I I just want to note that uh well first of all I want to note that I have no desire to encourage anyone to vote one way or the other just to kind of give an informed perspective especially given the situation in my personal situation. I just don't want to persuade anyone one way or the other but uh I I just want to know so we my family moved here from Maryland and uh and a school district that was really incredible uh in a lot of ways. It was ranked

064very high. It was, you know, a lot of taxpayer money to support it, right? And uh and we have been so impressed. I mean, the money amount of money per student here in RSU6 is considerably less than what we paid per student and the county that we're in in Maryland. But I have been so impressed at how good of a job that the teachers do, particularly with uh the resources that we have. Again, I understand the complex feelings that people have with their income. I I get it right. But I am so thankful for all the hard work that you guys do uh and navigating the budget. I'm so thankful for the what the teachers do. And I honestly that I I think that every teacher in the system deserves what what they give. I

065I have had such a wonderful experience with all of these teachers and all of the staff. And you know, again, I I know that people have to make complicated decisions with their budgets, but I I think just from the perspective of of what they've earned, I thoroughly think that our teachers have earned this. And I not just from the perspective of they're hardworking, but we are in a season where I public educators get a really rough go of it. And I I'm sure all of you all have experienced that. You all get a rough go of it, right? I mean, administrators get a rough go of it. I think that's why we're having such a difficulty with that as a school district. And and I think in this season, I I just would encourage whether

066you vote yes or no to do your best to show that you love and support your teachers. I mean, we've had Yes. some of our performances, you know, with some of these test scores are not what we might hope they want once give, but we we've had in the past couple years, we've had uh Miss Harvey at at our GV elementary school get teacher of the year. We've had that uh the principal at the junior high the middle school principal Vincent win uh middle school principal of the year was last year. That's outstanding as some of these teachers drive in a considerable amount uh and to continue to teach at their school. They don't live in the communities, but they're willing to drive a considerable drive because they love these kids. Even at Elm Street

067School, we endured an significant tragedy at the school. a tragedy that undoubtedly had as big of an impact on the teachers and and the staff as the kids. And yet I've not seen evidence of a dramatic turnover among the teachers. I've not I've seen that you all our school board committed and stepping up to help in these kind of cases. And I have seen the teachers doing everything they can to love these students. And again, I know every voter has to make their own decision and I respect you one way or the other, but I just want to note I I just think that all of our teachers are worth celebrating. I think that we we should do what whatever we can whatever we financially can afford to honor the teachers. I'm so thankful for

068you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you for your comment, sir. Good evening, Representative Boyer. David Boyer, Poland, a point of inquiry regarding the cost sharing formula that was given out that that's going to be on our June ballot and it's we know we can't change the EPS formula. It's in the last legislature there's a study going on. It's going on now whether it should be valuation or otherwise. We know there's a lot of disparity between Poland valuation and and the other two towns based on the slides, but and just in and I'm sorry I missed the public hearing earlier if this isn't Germaine at this very moment in session. Um we're going to be changing and going from 10% to 15 to 20% based on pupil count versus property valuation. Personally, I think property

069valuation should weigh in, but I don't know what's more equitable than pupil count. And we know these budgets aren't fair to Poland. And you you look at the actual dollars and cents and we're contemplate we're going to vote on whether we should save Poland $50,000 um go from 64.28 28% to 62.38. Mine it goes 19.2 22% to 19.8 not even 1% increase. So I guess I I'd just like to I represent Poland and Mechanic Falls, but I'd like to speak up for Poland in this moment and and hope that we can um because this has to do with $5 million, right? because that's warrant number article 14 is what we're talking about is affected by the cost sharing. I understand we're on the first warrant. No. Yeah. Just a quick point of order uh representative.

070So the the cost sharing formula that was discussed in the public hearing I realize you were in session and not able to be here. So appreciate you're making these comments but that cost sharing formula if it's uh voted in favor if it's approved in June won't go into effect until next year. It has no bearing on this warrant artic set of warrant articles in front of you because the 9010 is what's in place for this year and the any shift in cough sharing if approved by the voters would not go into place until next year's school. But I just want to make sure that you're everyone's clear about that. I think that I'm well aware but that's good I think for folks to understand that and that's kind of my point that this is going

071to be phased in over two years if it's approved by voters to save Poland $50,000. I don't know that running the election I think that might cost more than that. So, I'm just hoping I don't know how I'm going to vote tonight. Not that it matters. Um, I think ultimately it's it's going to be, you know, I don't know if a lot of Poland residents can absorb a 300 350 $400 tax increase, you know, given the mill rate or the amount per 100,000. Um, and I just hope uh I appreciate the thought of this article and the cost sharing committee putting that forward, but I think it does need to go further when we're talking about pupil count versus valuation. Thank you. Thank you, sir. And I'm gonna let her go first because she's up.

072Go ahead, ma'am. Do you want to come up? Hi, Alicia Sto Poland. Um, and I came up last year and and uh first off, I want to say that I don't think this is an indictment in any way of any of the teachers. And I don't think that's the issue that probably most Poland people have. I think, as Representative Buer said, I don't think Poland can absorb this. And last year I pointed out, which I'll do again this year, the graphs are lovely. The numbers are great. It's wonderful that you've spent a lot of time working on this, but we're 47th in Maine ranked. That's not awesome. And I was looking at US News today and in science only a third of the kids in the Poland High School are proficient in science. That's awful.

073When I moved to Maine, Maine was head of the nation in education. And now we're at the bottom. And we keep throwing money at it, but we're not measuring it with anything. Every single year, we're asked to spend more money that we really can't afford. And what is there to show for it? My daughter went to Poland. When she graduated, she had to take all remedial courses. My son went to St. doms, which by the way, that individual student rate of 13,000 is what you pay at St. Dom. And those kids have almost a 99% graduation rate and going on to college. Poland has an 80, just above 80. That's not great. We're paying all this money. It's good that your vocational program is moving up. That's that's good. We need kids in the trades,

074but your graduation's not good. your proficiency is not good and you're asking us to give more money with no way to measure this other than standardized tests which with the huge increase last year aren't showing very much this year. Thank you for your comment, Miss Elby. Good evening. My name is this one. Good evening. My name is Lisa Alby. I'm one of your select board members. I also sat on the cost sharing committee. I've attended all of the budget committee meetings as well as the schoolboard committee meetings this year. Um the cost sharing committee, the reason that we have decided to ease into it is because we are very cognizant of the fact that the three towns are a community. And as a select board person, absolutely my um I guess my Poland residents are

075are the priority, but in the setting of the RSU, all three of the communities are equally important. And we recognized as a committee that by lowering the cost sharing or changing the cost sharing, lowering the valuations and increasing the student uh population count was a significant impact to mechanic foss and minet and we did not want to put our friends, our neighbors and our community members in a very detrimental situation. um when in three in two years it will be time to reassess the cost sharing formula and at that point the community uh or whoever is on the on the committee at that time can decide you know how they want to move forward. Thank you very much. Are there any more questions or comments regarding article one uh which relates to uh the expenditure

076for regular instruction? Uh yes, Mr. Tyler. Yeah, I just want to first speak to the attempts to uh adjust the cost uh sharing program. Um I'm not sure if the implication was that this is a waste of time to do this. I feel we should be grateful that we're making an attempt to address an inequality. 76% of this budget, I believe, is EPS. We can't change that. There's nothing we can do about that. School, the school board made a very dedicated effort to try to make changes to this and yet they're told it's not worth worth the time. So let's let's speak if we could to uh to article one. My impression is that was viewed as a waste of time. I also would like to address the issue of the money spent. Yes, the

077the the test scores are challenging, but do we really think that we'll get those test scores higher by spending less money? By spending less for teachers and support staff, will spending less make those scores go up? This is a national problem. This is not just me. Public education is challenged everywhere. And part of that is, quite frankly, the commitment to publication, public education isn't what it used to be, which is why we need to continue to dedicate our support to it. Our our families are not like people in Yarmouth and Cumberland and Freeport that can send their kids to private schools. Our public schools are the heart of our communities and they deserve support, not criticism. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. Hey, um, sorry it's me again. I got bunch of million questions

078on this. I just just like to be an informed voter. Um I I just look at the cost increase since I since I moved here or I bought my house. Um I was fortunate enough to refinance when the interest rates were low, but I lost all that due to taxes. Now, and when we look at these numbers, I mean, I'm I'm doing okay, but if you keep increasing numbers like this, it never goes down. It's not sustainable if we continue increasing by I don't know what is it 6 point something% you said earlier or maybe my numbers are wrong. 5.1, 4%, 5%, whatever. But but in either case, that's hundreds of dollars, you know. I I don't I mean, where am I supposed to come up with it? You know, are you you're going to

079tax me out of my house? You're going to tax people who are on fixed incomes out of their house? You're going to t out tax, you know, trying to do a good thing, but the repercussions of the good thing are people can't afford it. I mean, I don't I I would love to give everyone a raise. I would love to give everyone, but I mean I mean, Representative Boyer said, you know, yeah, it it's it's my impression was yes, it's a good thing, but you do, you know, that that adjustment, it's a good thing, but you're talking about millions of dollars to for 50,000. It's not quite enough. And how do you protect people from losing their homes through taxes? Because it's not sustainable. How can your kids that go to the schools afford to

080live in your own community? They're not going to be able to pay the taxes. The same thing that you're trying to save them from to give them a good education, a good job, you're not going to be able to afford it. I mean, that's just my two cents. And thank you. Thank you, sir. Okay. We've had a number of very good questions for which hopefully we got uh appropriate and helpful answers. We've had a wholesome discussion with a range of views which is fantastic. That's exactly what this process should be. And I think now is the time to call the question. I don't see any more folks standing up. Mr. Bernier is getting back to his seat. He's not trying to come to the mic, I'm pretty sure. Um so with unless I'm mistaken. Okay,

081excellent. Um in that case, uh what I would like to do is call the question. I'm going to It's been a little while since we put the motion on the floor. Again, a great thing. Um, so I'm going to reread it so everyone is super clear about exactly what we're voting on. So we are voting right now on article one, which reads, "Shall Regional School Unit 16 be authorized to expend 11,470,19 for regular instruction?" All in favor, please uh use your yellow cards. Thank you very much. And opposed? The motion carries. Thank you. Uh, moving on now to article two. Again, I'm going to read the article. We'll get a motion, a second, and then have discussion before we vote on it. Article two reads, "Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend 6,536,820

082for special education? Can I get a motion regarding article 2?" Thank you, Miss Heman. Is there a second on that? And Miss Chzray, thank you. Any discussion regarding article two related to special education? Seeing none, uh, we'll now vote on the question again. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you have a question? Oh. Oh, you're you're anticipating the next move. Got it. Thanks. All right. Article two reads, "Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $6,536,820 for special education? All voting in favor?" Thank you. And opposed. And the motion carries. Thank you. Article number three. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $8,28 for career and technical education? And I get a motion. Thank you, Miss Chzre. And Miss Heman is a second. Um, before we do the discussion, I just want to note

083that I double checked that because all of the other cost centers are quite a bit more. And this is $8,218. and making sure I wasn't missing some zeros on the end of that. Uh but we have many students who participate in career and technical education. Uh so uh Amy, could you just quickly explain how those why this number is uh less than the other cost centers. I just want people to understand. Yes. So our LRTC also receives state subsidy. So uh this is to cover costs of above and beyond the state subsidy. So on January 13th, our board approved a cost sharing of 9.68% 68% of expenses exceeding state subsidy. So that 9.68% represents $8,218. So that'll be our our cost to be able to send our students uh which we average about 6869 students

084to LRTC. Excellent. All right. Any uh thanks for the clarification. That's my for my own education as well. Um any questions or comments regarding article 3? Seeing none, I will call the question. Shall uh regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend 8,218 for career and technical education? All voting in favor? And opposed? And the motion carries. Thank you. Uh next up is article four. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $637,151 for other instruction? Could I get a motion regarding article 4? You guys going to fight it out? I'll take Miss Heman as the first and Miss Chzre as the second if that's okay. Um, any discussion regarding article 4? Perhaps a brief explanation of what's what falls under that category of other instruction. Sure. Uh, article four, if you're following along

085your budget booklet, is on page 26. So that is includes our summer school programs, field trips, transportation costs of those field trips, our athletic director salary, stipens for our coaches and advisor, our official fees, supplies, uniforms for athletics, and transportation costs for athletics, as well as the fees associated with drama, band, chorus, and the math team. As you can see, that is an overall reduction of just over $24,000. And part of that is uh our audit of trips. We were able to re reduce our trip costs down to actuals based upon the past couple of years. And then looking really at some of the activities and stipens that we had in the budget and those clubs and activities haven't run in a couple of years. So saying, okay, we're going to part ways with those

086options and remove that from the budget. Thank you very much. Any question or comment regarding uh article 4 regarding other instruction? seeing. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, people are being great about using the mic, by the way. Thank you so much. So, Cheryl Skilling, Poland. Uh, so my question on this, uh, this covers summer school and just following on the previous comment of our test scores being low. Are we seeing a higher percentage of summer school use by the students? Where is that at? uh summer school enrollment. We do have extended school year which is required by students in special education with their IEPs. So, it's whatever that team deems and then we have uh summer school at the high school which is for uh students that need to finish up their their their work in

087order to be able to be at good standing for the next following year. Our middle school is more of a nomination process. So, sometimes it's really not about the academic work. There's a combination between academic work as well as continuing on with routines and keeping the learning continuing through the summer. And then part of our other our summer school at the elementary level is not locally funded. That's funded through title one. And again, that comes down to since we do a title one grant for that, which we received, I think just over $58,000 to run our our summer school at Elm Street in Poland. Again, that's grant funded. Uh it depends on how many staff we get and what the grant cost is. is and then we we do a ratio of of 12 to

08814 students per teacher. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any additional question or comment regarding article 4? Jamie Award Poland. I did have a question about summer school. Um so my daughter's going to go to summer school. Um and if it's anything like what my son did, he went for two days and then was told he was proficient and you're good. You don't have to go. So if it and they are half days, summer school is not a whole day. So what is the point of summer school? If all they have to do is go for four hours and then somebody says, "Yep, you're good. You're proficient. Why is that not something that can't be done throughout the school year or at the end of the year?" Like, "My daughter's already told me I

089have to go to summer school to get this finished." And I was like, and those are the questions we wrestle with all year with having those standards recovery. Is your your child I don't I'm putting you on the spot. I don't middle school, high school age is what I'm assuming. So, right. Those are our standards recovery like we're really trying to have our teachers stay after school offering those Wednesdays to be able to say, "Hey, you're you're in danger of failing and maybe they're not playing sports because sometimes sports and activities really uh get kids in line uh to make because you have to be in good standing to to participate." And so th those are the questions. if you have other ideas of how to get kids to we we would not like we

090would not want to have summer school at the high school level. Like that's ultimately our goal, but our kids show us differently of like, hey, you know, you're you're missing this assessment or you're missing this big project. We need you to get it done. We give you all of this time and now it's time for you to show up during summer school to get that done. And I think there's a lot of leeway and there's not enough of you didn't get it in on time and now you're just going to get penalized for that. There's also no I know it's not 1987. There's no afterchool detention. There is no ramification for not doing your work. And as my daughter told me, we all know we can just go to summer school. We can screw off

091all year long. She goes, I put forth the effort. She goes, and I'm behind in science and I'm struggling and so I can't meet up with this teacher because this teacher coaches a sport. So that teacher isn't there after school. So, I'm going to go to summer school for however many days to get that fixed. So, like there seems to be a disconnect somewhere. Whereas she's got, let's say, 3 weeks worth of work, she's going to go to school in the summer for two 4h hour days and they're going to be like, "You're good. You're done. Go." Like, that seems like a lot of money to put forth for an entire program where we could just be like, "Okay, well, you failed. Is this part of the no child left behind? Because there seems like

092a lot of leeway for you didn't get your assignment in, we'll give you another day, we'll give you another day or we'll give you this day. Like when does it become you just didn't do it and now you just don't get it and you're failing? Yeah. Part of that is like focusing on the learning. Like that's our key priority is that you do have the foundational skills like you have learned what you are intended to learn in that course rather than just saying, "Oh, we gave you an option. you didn't do that, you chose not to engage and now you failed and now you've limited your options for your next courses and your next level or you have to repeat that whole entire uh course because then you have you run into the part of

093then well I've already done most of this I just didn't pass this part of it and then you you have disengagement again and sort of becomes this vicious cycle. So, we're working actively to try to figure out how to get kids uh loving what we're teaching every moment of every day and and getting their their things in on in on time. And we would love to have a program where we don't have to have a summer school, but that just hasn't happened yet. And so, we run that with being able to say, "Hey, we need you to just show up to get these things done." I think having to redo the class or just failing it should be incentive like because they know they have endless amounts of time to get it done. And if

094they don't, then I can just go to school for four hours one day and then I get told I'm good. So, I mean, there seems to be a disconnect. Thank you very much. I don't see any additional uh comment coming forward. So, I'm going to call the question on article 4, which reads again, shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $637,151 for other instruction? All in favor? Thank you very much. and opposed. Thank you very much. The motion carries. Uh, article number five. Shall Regional School Unit 16 be authorized to expend $2,761,981 for student and staff support? Could I get a motion regarding article 5, please? Thank you, Miss Heman. Is there a second, Miss Chzray? Thank you. Any discussion regarding article five? Seeing none, I'll call the question again. It reads, "Shall

095uh regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend 2,761,981 for student and staff support?" All in favor? Thank you. And opposed? Thank you. The motion carries. Moving on now to article six. So regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $742,755 for system administration. Could I get a motion regarding article 6, please? Sir, I'm sorry. Remind me your name. Mr. Mr. Tro, we just need that for the record. Thank you very much. Is there a second regarding that, Miss Chzray? Thank you very much. Any discussion regarding article six? Seeing none, I'll uh call the question. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $742,755 for system administration? All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed. Thank you. And the motion carries. Article 7. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $1,738,69

096for school administration. Can I get a motion regarding article 7, please? So, sir, again, as as uh as read. Yeah. And a second on that, Miss Heman. Thank you. Article 7. Any question regarding or comment regarding article 7? Seeing none, I'll call the question. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend 1,738,69 for school administration? All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed? Thank you very much. The motion carries. Uh moving on to article number eight. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $2,124,263 for transportation and buses? Could I get a motion regarding article 8, please? Thank you, Miss Chzray, and a second on that. I'll take you, sir. Thank you. Any discussion regarding article 8? As I often do, I will only note that my English teacher father would always

097be delighted to see the word buses is spelled correctly in the warrant article. Uh any uh any other question or comment uh regarding article 8? Seeing none, I will call the questions. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $2,124,263 for transportation and buses? All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed. And the motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to article 9. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $3,455,567 for facilities maintenance? Can I get a motion regarding article 9, please? Thank you, Miss Chzre. And a second, Miss Heman. Thank you very much. Any question or discussion regarding article 9? Seeing none, I'll call the question. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend 3,455,567 for facilities maintenance? All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed? Thank you very

098much. The motion carries. Moving on to article 10. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $41,68 for debt service and other commitments? Could I get a motion regarding article 10, please? Thank you, Miss Chzre. Mr. Robinson, I'll give you the second on that. Thank you very much. I didn't look up fast enough. Sorry. Uh any uh question or comment regarding article 10? Seeing none, I'll call the question. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $41,68 for debt service or other commitments? All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed? Thank you very much. And the motion carries. Article 11. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $8,579 for all other expenditures? Can I get a motion regarding article 11, please? Mr. Littlefield. Quick on the draw. Thank you. Is

099there a second on that one? Mr. Robinson, thank you very much. Any discussion regarding article 11? Seeing none, I'll call the question. And shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend $8,579 for all other expenditures? All in favor? Thank you very much and opposed. Thank you very much. The motion carries. All right. Now, now you're going to have to bear with me. You're going to have to listen to me for a minute on these next ones. All right. So articles 12 through 14 raise the funds for the proposed school budget. Um and the actions pursuant to these next three articles have to be taken by a recorded vote. So it can it's still a hand count but the ballot clerks are going to divide the room. They'll get an accurate sorry an accurate count

100of the number of voters yay and nay um on each of these next three articles that will get recorded. I will read the recorded vote vote back to the room so you all know exactly the numbers uh as they turned out and then those numbers then get reported to the state. So, there's a bit of a preamble I need to read here. So, again, just bear with me, but you should be able to follow along on your warrant articles. Here we go. Article 12. Shall Regional School Unit 16 appropriate $22,821,542 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 shall regional school unit 16 raise 9,554,938 and assess the amount set forth below as each municipality's contribution to the

101total cost of funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade 12 as described in the essential programs and services funding act in accordance with the main re main revised statute title 20A section uh 15668 recommended amounts set forth below. These are the total appropriated uh by municipality um and raised. Poland will appropriate 10,769,486 and Poland will raise 6,323,56. Mechanic Falls will appropriate 6,431,110 and would raise1,452,512. And finally, Minet would appropriate 5,620,946 and raise $1,779,370 for a total for the RSU across all three towns. Total appropriated 22,821,542 and the total raised 9,554,938 with the explanation that regional school unit 16 uh 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 is the amount of money determined by state law to

102be the minimum amount that the district must raise and and assess in order to receive the full amount of state dollars. Okay. Who would like to uh move article 12? Please make it as read. Thank you very much, Miss Chzray. Thank you. And is there a second on that? Miss Heman, thank you very much. Any discussion regarding article 12? Uh seeing none, I will uh we need to again we need to the ballot clerk should be ready because we'll do the count. So this is where you got to raise those uh flags up. Uh where's mine? Right. Well, you've all been doing this. You know what they look like, right? Um so, uh I'm going to call the So, the question's been called. Uh again, the total amount 22,821,542 to appropriate and 9,554 938 to

103be raised across the RSU. So, we've got the clerks ready to divide the room. All in favor of motion of article 12 as written, please raise your hands and please leave them up until I ask you to pull them down. Okay, everyone, you can put your hands down now. I'm just going to make sure they have the tally for the A's and then we'll do the nays in just a moment. Okay. All right. Uh and now I'll oppose to article 12. Hey, put your ballots down. Thank you very much. Uh so the motion carries by a vote of 104 to uh uh approve and 18 opposed. The motion carries. Thank you. Moving on now to article 13. Article 13 reads, "Shall regional school unit 16 raise and appropriate $41,68 for the annual payments on debt

104service previously approved by the legislative body for non-state school funded construction projects or non-state funded portions of school construction projects. In addition to the funds appropriated as the local share of the school administrative unit's contribution to the local cost of funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade 12. The explanation is non-state funded debt service is the amount of money needed for the annual payments on the district's long-term debt for major major capital school construction projects that are not approved for state subsidy. The bonding of this long-term debt was previously approved by the voters or other legislative body. So again, this is a debt service in the amount of 401,68, article 13. Could I get a motion regarding article 13? Thank you, sir. And a second from Mr. Robinson. I'll get you on that one.

105Thank you. Any uh comment or question regarding article 13? Seeing none. Again, this is another one of the u we're going to divide the room. The uh clerks, the ballot clerks will count the vote. I'll call the question then. Could all in favor please uh hold up your yellow cards. You can put your uh cards down for just a minute. We'll get the nose in just a sec. I just want to let them get the tally for themselves. [Music] You guys got it? Okay, great. Thank you. And now the nose. Please just raise those yellow placards. We'll count those up. And the motion carries by a vote of 112 yay and 8 nay. 112 to 8 was the vote. The motion carries. Article 14. This is the last of the one that requires the uh

106the hand count. Article 14 reads, "Shall regional school unit 16 raise and appropriate 5,342,22 in additional local funds, which exceeds the state's essential programs and services allocation model by $4,852,169 as required to fund the budget recommended by the RSU 16 board of directors. The RSU6 board of directors recommends 5,342,022 for additional local funds and gives the following reason for exceeding the state's essential programs and services funding model by $4,852,169. This amount is needed to cover the cost of RSU6 uh schools that the state's school funding model does not recognize and and has reduced or eliminated from the funding formula. Additional explanation. The additional local funds are those locally raised funds over and above regional school unit 16's local contribution to the local cost of funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade 12 as described

107in the essential programs and services funding act that will help achieve RSU 16's budget for education programs. Could I get a motion regarding article 14, please? Mr. Ber, thank you. And could I get a second on that? Thank you, Miss Jezre. Is there any question or comment regarding article 14? Madam Chair, sir, um I'll be voting against my own motion knowing full nail full well how it's going to go down. Again, I just want to raise this. Um we're looking to allocate uh was it $5.3 million and Poland's going to pay 64% of that? Why is Poland paying three or four times more than Mechanic Falls more than Minet? It's not equitable. The cost sharing formula doesn't go far enough. And I think there's other folks that aren't here that aren't expressing that because when

108someone does say it, um, other folks seem to impugn the members, uh, my motives and I don't think that's fair. And, um, so I'll be voting no on this because Poland shouldn't pay 65% of of this 5.3 million. Thank you, sir. And again, a reminder, the voting on the cost sharing is a separate referendum item which will be on the ballot on June 10th when this goes to its part two approval process. Um, okay. Uh, then article for I'm sorry, did you have a comment? Um, Julia Bernard, Mechanic Falls. Um could someone remind me again what the pupil count is sent um from Poland Mechanic Falls and Minet as well as the property evaluations just to compare all three. Yep. Just a second. I think the image for that. I think if you turn to

109your budget booklet on page 21 that has the three-year valuation. Uh the graph there can show the difference between Mechanic Falls and Minet in Poland's valuation. And then there is the table below that that does show the three-year averages for each one of those fiscal years. So that is the helpful part of determining because remember that cost sharing is 90% valuation. So when we look at that valuation those bar graphs you look at how much how much more the Poland one is that that kind of starts to set your your mind of like oh I can understand why Poland pays more is because that valuation is more. Um, and then the enrollment numbers, do you want them by school or by town? Uh, by town, please. You got too many papers and too many tabs.

110Just one. That's okay. 18. Yeah, 18. Page 18 at the top does break it down by um uh enrollment. So, you've got it by school and then you do have it by um Poland, Mechanic Falls, and Minet. that graph there does not have the numbers. So, let me pull up those numbers for you so I can read those to you. So, if you do look at uh 2025, the Poland population is 760 students. So, that blue bar there is 760. Mechanic Falls is 457.5 and Minet is 393.5. And um part of that 0.5 you going, how do you have a 0.5 kids? We do have some of our students that are homeschooled that do come in for part of their day. So, just in case anyone was wondering, how do you have half a kid?

111I was wondering that. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any additional question or comment regarding article 14 and again this is the last of the ones we get to count. Um, so I will call the questions. So, article 14 regarding the uh raise and appropriate of additional local funds. All in favor raise them high. All right, we can put them down and we'll get the nose in just a sec. You good, Sarah? Okay, great. Uh, all uh opposed to article 14, please raise those high. Great. You go. Good. You can put him down. Thank you. And the motion carries by a vote of 95 to 31. Thank you very much. So again, those are those are all the numbers that get reported to the state. Uh, all right. We're down to the last few articles

112now. Uh, great job everybody. Article 15 reads, "Shall Regional School Unit 16 authorize the RSU6 board of directors to expend 29,885,660 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2026 from regional school unit 16's 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, non-state funded school construction projects, 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 question mark. Uh the explanation is a school administrative unit must include a summary article indicating the total amount budgeted for funding public education from pre kindergarten to grade 12 in regional school unit 16. The amount must be the gross

113budget of the school system. This article does not provide money unless the other articles are approved. Can I get a motion regarding article 15, Miss Chzre? Thank you. Thank you very much. And I saw Mr. Littlefield up there uh with a second. So, thank you for that. Any discussion regarding article 15? Seeing none, I'll call the question. Uh, article 15 is again the kind of the total summary to expend $29,885,660 for the 202526 fiscal and school year. All in favor placards up. Thank you very much. And opposed. And the motion carries. Thank you very much. Uh, article 16 authorizes the adult education program and raises the local share. So, article 16 reads to see if regional school unit 16 will appropriate $422,800 for adult education and raise $130,000 as the local share for the year

114beginning July 1, 2025 and ending June 30, 2026 with authorization to expend any additional incidental or miscellaneous receipts in the interest and well-being of the adult education program. Can I get a a motion regarding article 16, please? Thank you, Miss Chzra. A second on that, Mr. Robinson. Thank you. Any discussion regarding article 16? Uh Jamie Award, Poland. Um, can somebody just break down what $422,800 to the adult ed is because a lot of the programs we already have to pay for because that's a it's not a change, but can somebody explain what where all of that money goes to for adult ed? So, we're we're asking for 130 local to be raised. The rest come in grants to adult ed. There is also an enrichment program. That's the program that runs that's self-sufficient. That's not

115part of the 130 that you pay for. So that the instructors that do those classes, maybe Zumba or knitting or whatever those classes are, that's how those instructors get paid. Thank you very much. Any additional question or comment regarding article 16? Sir. Yeah. Anthony Tony Mechanic Falls. I just want to ask what is our uh budget on adult education? How does it compare to other districts in the area? I mean, especially, you know, per capita, obviously. I know they're bigger districts. I know our our budget's on a shoestring and I would look to Shelley if you want to speak to what you know for comparisons of our adult ed budget to area schools and and Shelley is in her first year as our RSU 16 adult ed director. She's making her way out. I'll just

116sort of fill the air time. Um she's coming to us from Gorum and uh has some exciting pieces coming up. She applied for a school con uh school construction, no not a school construction, a construction grant. And so we will look forward to bringing that program to adult ed. And now you can talk about budgets. It was a little excellent filler by the way. Um, comparatively to other programs coming from Gorum, Westbrook, I've worked in Windham, Bedford in my 29 years. Um, when Amy mentions that we're on a shoestring, we're on a shoestring and um, our enrichment is supports any extra that we don't get in grants. Um, we rely heavily on our grants and our enrichment program to support our instructors. We don't charge our students that want to finish their high school diplomas.

117We don't charge for people that want to get their high set. We don't charge for anybody that wants to come in and work on their English, their multilingual skills. We do not charge for anybody that wants help after they've left high school. Sorry. Um left high school that want to pursue college or a trade. Um so basically what we're asking for is just supporting us to be able to bring all those supports to your kids and community members. And we also help our community members get training that they need to be productive in their in their jobs and in their communities. Thank you very much. Followup and details because I I I feel like on the general budget we've gotten some idea of like per cap per student costs uh broadly for education. we've gotten

118some idea of like uh of amount taxpayers pay relative to population on broader education. Do we have any kind of firm uh number comparative numbers for that for adult education? I look to Stacy. I can get that for you. Thank you. Yeah. Great. Thank you so much. Any additional question or comment regarding article 16 we're on. Okay. I'll call the question again. This is regarding adult education. It's about uh the article reads, "We will appropriate $422,800 and raise $130,000 as the local share." All in favor? Raise your hands. Thank you very much. And opposed? Thank you. And the motion carries. Uh, articles 17 and 18 uh, raise and authorize expenditures for the capital uh, improvement fund. Article 17 reads, "Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to raise 543,000 for the capital improvement reserve fund?"

119Going to get a motion regarding article 17. Thank you, Miss Chzre. Is there a second on article 17? Thank you, Miss Heman. Any additional question or comment? Yes. Go right ahead. Yes, just a quick question. Um, so last year, uh, we raised 487,000 and approved an expenditure of 540,000. I'm just curious where we landed last year. What were we able to accomplish? How much of that was um, actually spent? I can give you the dollar value of what we spent. As of May 9th, we spent $478,3587 out of the capital improvement reserve account. So we have 64,569 to carry over and that's why the next article is asking to spend more than what we're asking to raise. Okay. So that was my next question. There's how much is in the balance right now? 64 64,000.

120Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. Any additional question or comment uh regarding article 17 and we got a preview of coming attractions with article 18 there. Great. I will call the question then. Article 17. Shall Regional School Unit 16 be authorized to raise $543,000 for the capital improvement reserve fund? All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed? Thank you very much. And the motion carries. Article 18. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend up to 600,000 from the capital improvement reserve fund? Could I get a motion regarding article 18? Thank you, Miss Chzray. And a second, Miss Humeman. Thank you. Any question or comment regarding article 18? Uh Stacy just explained why we're expending more than we're raising because of the carryover. So hopefully that made that clear for folks.

121Um any other question or comment regarding this article? Seeing none, I'll call the question. Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend up to $600,000 in the capital improvement reserve fund? All in favor? Oh, I'm sorry, sir. Did you have a question? I I I ap I apologize. I didn't I came up late. Sorry. Um, you said we had carryover from last year funds. [Music] I should have said this year. I'm sorry. We're working on the FY26 budget. So, the carryover will be from FY25. We have one more month in our fiscal year, which is June. So, at the end of June, we will close out FY25. And at this point in time right now, we have 64,000 in that account that has not been expended. So if it's not spent, what happens to

122that money? This is a reserve account. So it carries over into that account. Unlike the general fund, which is all the articles 1 through 11 that you voted on, that does not carry over. That we have to come back to you each year and ask to spend in carryover. So it's not in like a regular maintenance plan or anything else like that. the capital improvement is that's the the but what's the reserve in case so the state lets you only set certain amounts of money aside and you have to declare what it's for. So one of those things is a capital improvement plan for roof repairs or maybe a uh paving big projects. Okay. Um so that's that and grants. Other than that it's the general fund and you can't so reserve isn't really a

123reserve. It's it is this is a reserve account that that we can put money aside in and keep it for just that purpose which is capital improvement for like like made like emergency improvements. Is that the deal? Um yeah, there's a plan that is brought to the board and then if there's an emergency, the board can be asked to expend that money for that emergency if it's not. All right. Thank you for answering that. Thank you very much. Additional question or comment regarding article 18. Seeing none, I'll call the question. Article 18 reads, "Shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend up to $600,000 in the capital improvement reserve fund?" All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed. Thank you very much. The motion carries. Article 19 and 20 authorize expenditures of grants

124and other receipts. Article 19 reads, "In the event that regional school unit 16 receives more state education subsidy than the amount included in its budget, shall the board of directors be authorized to use all or part of the additional state subsidy to increase expenditures for school purposes in its cost centers approved by the board of directors? increase the allocation of finances and reserve fund approved by the board of directors and or decrease the local cost share expectations as defined in title 20A section 15671- A1B for local property taxpayers for funding public education as approved by the board of directors. The board of directors recommends tax relief 100% increased expenditures 0% sip reserve 0%. The explanation. In 2016, the legislature passed a bill that allows a school district to include an article in the warrant for

125its annual budget meeting that says, "In the event the district receives more state subsidy than expected, the board of directors can, without a special budget meeting and budget validation referendum, increase expenditures for school purposes in approved cross centers, decrease the local rate for education, or increase reserves. The law addresses the problem that typically happens every two years when the legislature late in the session passes the state budget after districts have approved their budget levels at the local 20 at the local level based on GP estimates. So again, this is additional local funds uh additional funds come in from the state more than was budgeted. The recommendation is for 100% tax relief, not increases in expenditures or SIP reserve. So just to make sure people are clear when you make a motion um on that article

126and I would now entertain a motion. Thank you, Miss Heman. Is there a second on that? Miss Chzray. Thank you. Okay. Article 19. Any question or comment regarding article 19? Seeing none, I'll call the question. All in favor? Thank you very much. And opposed? Thank you very much. And the motion carries. Uh let's see. Article 20. In uh in addition to amounts approved in the preceding article, shall regional school unit 16 be authorized to expend funds that may be received from federal or state grants or programs or other sources during the fiscal year for school purposes providing that such grants, programs, or other sources do not require the expenditure of other funds not previously appropriated. Could I get a motion regarding article 20? Thank you, Miss Heman. Is there a second? Miss Chzray. Thank you.

127Any question or comment regarding article 20? Mh. Representative Ber. Thank you. Uh, Madam Chair, I'm just curious historically last 5 10 years, what amounts are these that come in in between the budgets in the school year? We talking$10,000 20,000 a million. Thank you. So for FY2, we took in 2,50,535 in various grants. We've expended so far 1,650,261. The largest of that is the local entitlement grant which is for special ed. There's also title grants and that we also had a remaining amount of $495,000 for SR3 which was one of the grants that we received for COVID. Thank you very much. Any additional question or comment regarding article 20? Seeing none, I will call the question. Again, this is essentially authorizing expenditure of other funds that might come into the district that are not included in

128the budget to be used um without uh expenditure of other funds. Uh all in favor of article 20. Thank you very much. And opposed? Well, there we go. Uh the motion carries. Um thank you very much. Uh, we can now be adjourned if anyone would like to. Well, this is when I miss Mr. Hullberg the most. Thank you, Miss Chzray. All right. And second. Great. All in favor of that one. Right. Thank you very much, everybody. Yes.