LEWISTON — The School Committee on Monday night voted 5-4 to direct Superintendent Bill Webster to give them a smaller budget to take to voters June 14.
The voted followed a debate about Lewiston schools having a cumbersome teacher evaluation system and too many administrators.
After a budget is passed by voters, committee members agreed to consider reallocating some programs that several members said weren’t a priority, such as teacher evaluation coaches, a high school dean, and a Star Academy program at the armory.
State law allows school boards to do some tweaking after budgets are passed, but not overhauls.
Boards can reallocate up to 5 percent of each category in a school budget. That means Lewiston can reallocate up to $1.2 million in spending in the regular education section of the budget after the vote.
If passed by voters, the school budget would be $19,000 less than the $68.8 million rejected by voters May 10 when there was a voter turnout of 2.8 percent.
The budget would still be a 6.3 percent increase over current spending to cover more students. But because of a larger Homestead Exemption passed by state lawmakers, property taxes for a $100,000 home would go down $109.
Of great concern to committee members Monday was passing a budget that gets all available state money for education. State law says local taxpayers must spend a certain amount or lose state money.
If the budget was cut, Lewiston would lose $2.50 in state money for every $1 cut, Superintendent Bill Webster said.
However, in the smaller budget recommended Monday, the $19,000 comes from money carried over from last year which, Webster said would not jeopardize the loss of state money. While the budget is smaller, it will allow Lewiston to get all of the state subsidy, Webster said.
But Monday’s vote was contentious and split, 5-4. It opened disagreement to programs and priorities.
Voting for it were Tom Shannon, Paul St. Pierre, Francis Gagnon, Richard White and Kristen Cloutier.
Voting against were Linda Scott, Megan Parks, Benjamin Martin and Matthew Roy. Their reasons were different.
Scott didn’t want a budget smaller than what was earlier recommended.
Martin said he wanted deeper cuts in administration before it goes to voters, including teacher coaches. He’s had conversations with teachers, he said. After being told by Assistant Superintendent Tom Jarvis that Lewiston’s evaluation program is a model in the state, Martin was unimpressed, saying staff could better be used to reduce classroom sizes.
Why try and lead the state in evaluation “when we have 27 kids in classrooms?” Martin asked. “I don’t see us being the lead in the teacher evaluation program a priority.”
Roy said he voted against because there was only one viable option. “I can’t make a decision based on one good option,” he said.
The committee will review Webster’s budget May 23 and send it to the City Council.
Meanwhile, residents commented Monday on the budget being rejected. One reason it did not pass, several agreed, was the small turnout.
Heidi Sawyer said she received calls from teachers who had no idea a budget referendum was happening.
“Why didn’t we do a better job encouraging people to get out and vote?” Sawyer asked.
Now that it failed, everyone’s talking about the budget. “Even those who didn’t vote” will turn out in June, Sawyer said. If they want this budget to pass, “you’ve got to sell it. You’ve got to market it.”
City Councilor Jim Lysen reminded the audience that the school budget was approved by the council, that councilors considered it fair with the increase in enrollments.
“We need to turn people out and get a fair representation,” he said.
Too many people don’t know that property taxes will go down because of the larger Homestead Exemption, Lysen said. “That’s a cause to celebrate.”
He asked the committee to support a November referendum, “Stand Up For Students,” that would generate more state money for education, that the state isn’t paying the 55 percent as voters said it should.
Parent Tina Hutchinson said she voted against the budget because it’s not doing enough for students.
bwashuk@sunjournal.com
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