02/02/2012

Preliminary estimates show $272,000 decrease in state education funding for next year

School officials received bleak news this Groundhog's Day as the Department of Education forecast a $272,000 reduction in state subsidy for Cape Elizabeth for 2012-2013.

Preliminary estimates for 2013 general purpose aid to education, posted on the DOE website Feb. 2, 2012, showed Cape Elizabeth's projected subsidy at $2.03 million, $272,285 less than the 2012 subsidy of $2.3 million.

The anticipated decrease is even more than the $245,355 reduction projected by the DOE in October.

"It's still very early in the budget process," Superintendent Meredith Nadeau said in a telephone interview. "We weren't expecting the picture to improve, but it is disappointing," she said.

Compounding the anticipated subsidy loss is the end of revenue from a 2010 federal Jobs Bill award. The 2012 school budget included $452,534 from the $583,620 award granted to protect jobs and to cushion the impact of the end of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (federal stimulus) funds. The Jobs Bill award needed to be used by 2012.

The state presents estimated subsidies to help schools plan their budgets, but caution that the numbers could change. According to the DOE website, the numbers are still subject to legislative action, and depend on still unknown factors such as school enrollment and special-education populations.

Nadeau is scheduled to present a 2013 budget recommendation to the School Board at a workshop meeting Feb. 28, 7 p.m. in the High School library.