11/25/09
(updated 12/02/09)
Ad hoc committee to advise School Board on financial course
The School Board is looking beyond its members for ideas to cope with a drastic reduction in general purpose aid from the state.
At a special meeting Nov. 23, the board proposed an ad hoc committee generate recommendations for how to finance Cape Elizabeth schools in an era of significant decreases in state aid, said School Board Chairman Trish Brigham.
The board will officially approve the committee membership and charge, but has scheduled a public forum for Dec. 8, 2009, 7 p.m. in the High School cafeteria, to solicit ideas from the community at large. [The location has been moved from the Town Hall chamber].
The Nov. 23 meeting was held to brainstorm ideas for how to deal with an anticipated $621,440 curtailment of general purpose aid to Cape Elizabeth for the current fiscal year. The curtailment is Cape Elizabeth's share of a statewide $38.1 million curtailment of state aid announced by the Department of Education last week, and expected to be part of the state's supplemental budget to be presented to the Legislature before it reconvenes in January.
As School Board members discussed the impending curtailment, said Superintendent Alan Hawkins, "it became apparent that education is not just a school issue, but a town issue," affecting both the value of property, and other community values that are less tangible.
Committee membership is slated for approval at the School Board's Dec. 1 business meeting, but nominees are Rebecca Millett and Kathy Ray from the School Board; Anne Swift-Kayatta and Sara Lennon from the Town Council; Frank Governali from the Cape Elizabeth Education Association; a representative of the Cape Elizabeth Education Association; and one of the student representatives to the School Board. [Tim Thompson was the education foundation representative appointed by the board Dec. 1.]
Hawkins said the format for the hearing will be fine-tuned after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but generally the committee is looking to gather thoughts and ideas from the public. Brigham, in a telephone interview, said the committee would be looking for a sense of the community's priorities for education, and ideas for responding to funding limits "without completely decimating the schools."
The School Department's state subsidy in 2008-09 was $3 million, an increase of 8 percent from 2007-08. In fiscal 2010 the state subsidy is $1.9 million, or 40 percent less than the previous year. Assuming the expected curtailment of $621,440 is enacted, Cape Elizabeth's 2010 subsidy will be reduced by 33 percent, an overalll reduction of nearly 60 percent since fiscal 2009. The $1.9 million figure does not include a $699,120 federal stimulus allocation from the state, which will not be affected by the curtailment.
No unit-by-unit projections for next fiscal year have been published, but the Department of Education is anticipating an overall budget reduction target for 2010-2011 of $36 million.
"It's a different ballgame," Brigham said.
The School Board will be looking for a recommendation from the committee possibly by the end of the month, Hawkins said.
Resolution opposes curtailment
In a related matter, the board on Nov. 23 approved a resolution, to be distributed to local newspapers, Cape Elizabeth's elected state representatives, leaders of the Legislature and Department of Education, as well as the governor.
The resolution calls for the governor and Legislature to provide adequate and stable basic education funding, and for the citizens of Cape Elizabeth to help school districts obtain adequate and stable basic education funding by contacting state legislators and the Governor and expressing the urgency of this funding crisis and inequity of the current cuts.
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