AUBURN — The School Committee plans to take a nearly $36 million budget proposal to the City Council when the two boards meet Monday.
The proposal is $1.7 more than the current year, representing a 5.1 percent increase for the 2011-2012 school year.
“To do anything less is not doing our job,” Superintendent Tom Morrill said.
Most recent budgets have declined or have had no impact on the city’s property tax levy.
That can’t be the most important concern for the school committee, Chairman David Das said. In the last five years, the school budget has declined by $930,000.
“We’ve been underfunding,” he said. “That’s a recipe for disaster.”
The budget is almost identical to the proposal Morrill introduced last month.
Among spending increases are a summer school program to encourage more students to graduate and the creation of 16½ new positions, including a Somali school liaison, a school nurse and four reading teachers.
Plans also call for spending $90,000 each at Auburn Middle School and Edward Little High School to update curriculum and improve learning, in part to take advantage of new technology.
The details will be discussed at the workshop between the School Committee and the City Council, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Monday at Auburn Hall.
It’s uncertain what effect the increase would have on the tax rate.
The state hasn’t decided how much money will be distributed to schools in the form of general aid to education.
“We’re going to be flying blind for a while,” Morrill said. “It could be late April. It could be later than that.”
He has estimated a tax increase of between $55 and $147 per year on an average Auburn house valued at $160,000. Though that could change.
School Committee member Thomas Kendall asked the group to worry less about the taxes and more about education.
Morrill cited state numbers that compared Auburn’s per pupil cost, $7,807, with other others. Of Maine’s 228 school units, Auburn placed 204th.
“Something has happened,” he said. “There comes a point at which efficiency becomes not delivering what you should be delivering.”
Last year, the budget declined by $30,000.
“We’ve done our due diligence in the tough times,” Morrill said.
dhartill@sunjournal.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
