The School Board held their final scheduled budget workshop on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, following five separate workshops with the Cape Elizabeth School Department’s District Leadership Team (DLT).  As shown in the numerous budget revisions, the factors going into the Fiscal Year 2024 budget have been particularly challenging.  The original budget request from administrators, dated January 24, came in at $34,760,950 with a 11.21% expenditure increase and a 11.14% property tax increase.  Included in this initial proposed budget was a facilities costs increase of $776,140 for fuel, electricity, repairs and maintenance.  New position requests totaled $647,236 and 83% of the total budget covering existing contracts for salaries and benefits.  As is typical in the preliminary stages of the budget review, health insurance costs and State of Maine Department of Education’s allocation were not known.  In addition, the Pre-K grant MOU* and a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with teachers and administrators was also undetermined.   

By January 27, administrators reduced new position requests by $31,386; lowering the property tax increase to 10.89%.  In the workshops that followed, the School Board reviewed the proposed budget with the DLT and discussed options that would reduce expenditures and property taxes.  However, not calculated in the original budget was an announcement by MainePERS that the retirement rate would be increasing from 3.8% to 4.47% in order to adjust for the increase in cost of living expenses.  This announcement came in mid-March and revised the budget on March 27 to show a 11.95%  increase to property taxes.

By March 29, some helpful factors came into play.  The health insurance ceiling number, originally budgeted at 12%, came in a 6%.  Additionally, and Department of Education announced that the EPS state allocation was incorrect and under calculated many schools’ allocation.  As a result, Cape Elizabeth received an additional $788,814 from the state.  This allowed for an increase in the allocation for collective bargaining negotiations and a reduction in the property tax increase to 9.51%.

At the request of the School Board, the DLT was asked to provide four scenarios which would reduce the increase to property taxes further.  During the April 4 workshop, Superintendent Christopher Record reviewed the updated budget with the following property-tax rate increase options and the subsequent impact to teaching and learning:  7.76%, 6.76%, 5.76%, and 0.00%.

All of the above slides are courtesy of the Cape Elizabeth School Department.

Though no votes were taken at the April 4 workshop, Record did ask that the School Board provide guidance on which of the four options it preferred in advance of an actual vote on Tuesday, April 11.  School Board member Heather Altenburg said she wanted to aim for something "Between 6.76% - 5.76% and try to create a balance, as we have members in the community that struggle."  Board Chair Elizabeth Scifres said, "In an effort to narrow this down I would take the top number off and obviously take the bottom number off the table."  This approach was met with general agreement from the other board members.  Board member Caitlin Sweet said she thought it was important to illustrate to the public the consequences of a 0.0% increase, "It's a terrible exercise to go through, but I think it's important for the public to look that in eye."  

On April 4 Record will return with a final budget proposal for the School Board to vote on.  The status of the CBA is not expected to be finalized by this date.  The board will have to vote on the budget without this agreement in place and forward the approved budget to the Town Council Finance Committee for their review on April 24 and 25.  On May 8, the council will hold a Public Hearing on the Municipal and School budgets.  The council will hold a special meeting on May 15 to vote on the FY2024 budget and a vote to send the FY2024 School Budget to a June 13 referendum.  

All of the remaining budget related workshops and meetings will be streamed on CETV LIVE and available for future viewing on CETV On Demand.  To access prior budget workshop videos and materials, please visit the town's FY 2023-2024 Budget webpage.

* On April 4 during a special business meeting, the board voted 5-0 to on the Pre-K expansion grant.