LEWISTON — The Lewiston school district will receive an additional $800,000 in state funding, school administrators learned Tuesday afternoon.
According to a short message from Superintendent Jake Langlais, the Maine Department of Education has made some adjustments to its funding formula, specifically to the mill calculation.
As a result, the Lewiston school district’s projected state funding was increased.
“This is good news,” Langlais wrote Tuesday night. “Our team will review the details in the morning to verify the adjustments to revenue.”
Previously, Lewiston was projected to receive $59 million from the state for general school operations, a decrease of $1.3 million from the current year. An additional $4 million in state funding is designated for Lewiston Regional Technical Center.
In total, more than 60 percent of Lewiston’s school revenue comes from state subsidy.
Langlais previously attributed to the decline in funding to decreasing student enrollment, rising property values and less weight for economically disadvantaged students in the state’s funding formula.
In order to close a $7.8 million shortfall in the school budget, school officials have suggested cutting 65 positions, funds from out-of-district special education placements and various student services.
The initial $105.7 million budget proposal would be a 7% increase from the current school budget. Proposed reductions total nearly $4 million.
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