Skowhegan-area school board approves $51.44M budget

Apr. 18—SKOWHEGAN — The Maine School Administrative District 54 board of directors approved a $51.44 million spending plan on Thursday that would come with an overall increase to property taxes of just over 2%.
With the board's approval of the 2025-26 budget, it now goes to voters in the towns of Canaan, Cornville, Mercer, Norridgewock, Skowhegan and Smithfield to review and approve.
The district budget meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 21 at the Skowhegan Area High School gymnasium. The total budget amount voters approve at that meeting then will go to voters again for the validation referendum, scheduled for June 10.
The spending plan of $51,440,429 marks an increase over the current year of about $2,554,221, or 5.22%, budget figures show.
Subtracting the costs construction of the new consolidated Margaret Chase Smith Community School and career and technical education, the spending increase is about $1.03 million, or 2.12%, over the current year.
The $75 million school construction project is funded 100% by the state, Congressionally Directed Spending and local fundraising efforts; career and technical education is also 100% state-funded.
The proposed budget factors in the use of a large amount of undesignated fund balance, $2.44 million. It also forecasts increasing revenues from other sources to offset taxation, like billing Medicare for more services, by $485,750.
Factoring in revenue results in the 2.35% local property tax increase.
Over the last seven budget cycles, the district has averaged a 2.17% increase to taxation. Superintendent of Schools Jonathan Moody noted that is well below the average U.S. inflation rate of 3.79%.
"Very responsible and not easy," Moody said.
The proposed budget includes 15 cuts to positions, Moody said. Other board-approved cost savings include the reduction of retirement benefits for some ed techs, an efficiency lighting project, moving to a private insurance plan for Maine's new paid family and medical leave requirement, and the assumption of administrative duties to reduce contracted service costs for unemployment benefits, according to Moody.
There were few material costs that could be cut, Moody said. About 86% of the budget represents personnel costs like wages and benefits, budget documents show. Health insurance costs went up 5.19%.
"Most of our spending is in the right places," Moody said.
If voters approve the proposed budget in June, the assessments for each town would increase by the following amounts from the spending plan approved last year:
—Canaan: $62,175, or 4.99%
—Cornville: $14,682, or 1.62%
—Mercer: $31,522, or 4.92%
—Norridgewock: $91,714, or 4.40%
—Skowhegan: $83,878, or 0.84%
—Smithfield: $93,907, or 7.44%
Inconsistent increases in state valuation among the district's six towns are why, even with a modest budget increase, some towns' taxpayers will be affected disproportionately in the proposed budget, Moody said.
Each town pays its share through property taxes, and the amount each town pays is based on its property valuation calculated by the state as a percentage of the total state valuation for all six towns. Overall, the six towns' valuations went up about 10%, budget figures show. The increase, though, varied from town to town.
Moody said he may recommend the district consider other factors in its cost-sharing formula, which is based only on property valuations from the state. That change requires a somewhat elaborate process outlined in statute, involving the participation of officials from the district's member towns.
If the school board and towns pursue the change, Moody estimated completing it would take about a year.
President Donald Trump's threats to cut federal funding for Maine schools also played into budget deliberations this spring.
The threats came to the forefront after the public clash between Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, over transgender student participation in sports in Maine. The Maine Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on sex and gender identity, among other factors, which has been why the Maine Principals' Association, the governing body for high school sports in the state, allows students to compete in high school sports based on their gender identity.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Wednesday that the Department of Justice is suing Maine over the dispute. The Trump administration's Justice Department believes that Maine's law violates Title IX, a civil rights law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools that receive federal funding.
In MSAD 54, one board member, Wayne Wofford of Cornville, had proposed in March that the board vote to take an explicit stance on following federal orders over state law.
An Aroostook County district took that step this week, believed to be the first school district to do so in Maine.
The MSAD 54 board ultimately decided to table those discussions until after the budget process is finished.
Even so, four residents asked the board to take action on the issue at its meeting Thursday.
Board Chair Lynda Quinn, of Skowhegan, told them the board listens to concerns but does not typically respond to questions from the public during meetings.
Moody has told the board of directors at multiple meetings that MSAD 54 policies are believed to comply with both federal and state laws. Its Title IX policies were not updated in recent years, while legal actions across the country were underway, he said.
In his report later in the meeting, Moody did address the concerns brought by members of the public. He said Maine school superintendents met with representatives of the Maine Department of Education and the Office of the Maine Attorney General earlier Thursday.
They were told that if a district takes an action against the Maine Human Rights Act, the state Human Rights Commission will take action against the district, Moody said.
Moody also said state officials believe an individual school district's decision would not save it from any cuts to federal funding, as districts are subgrantees of the state for most federal dollars.
For those reasons, Moody continued to recommend the board hold off on making any policy changes related to sex or gender discrimination in the hope that the state resolves the issue via the Legislature, the courts or through an agreement with the federal government.
"We are not seeing a negative impact to any student in our district," he told the board. "There may be a situation where you as a board want to take action, and that is your prerogative. But the recommendation from the state and the recommendation from our attorney, and my recommendation, is not to do this. I do hope that the state is able to chart a course that doesn't negatively impact schools."
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