Board of Education meeting March 11, 2008

The first budget proposal for the 2008-2009 school year was presented. It is the first draft of four that will be made as the Board considers its options.

Presentations were made by the Business Administrator regarding various components of the draft budget. It was quite clear that there was very heavy emphasis on controlling expenses, and there was recognition of the impact of declining enrollments. The Board, Superintendent, school principals and the administrators were all clearly focussed on providing services at acceptable cost levels.

The draft estimates the cost at approx. $26, 562, 000, which represents a 2.34% increase over the current year. However, due to an estimated decline in state aid of 4.73% (and this number will not be known with certainty until the state budget is approved), the property tax will have to increase by 5.0% to offset the decline in state aid.

A suggestion was made to consider hiring a second shift maintenance person, to deal with items that may previously have been contracted out and to attempt to keep up with needed maintenance. Second shift would allow work to be done without the students present. The cost of this was not included in the budget draft, but upon discussion, the Board asked for further information so that it could decide whether it made sense to have such a position. This idea does have merit.

On a lighter note, a presentation was made by Ms. Morgan, an MED teacher, and Elisabeth Grace, a social worker, asking the Board to permit the introduction of a therapy dog into the MED. Children who may, for example, have difficulty reading to adults seem to lose their inhibition if the listener is a dog. Ms. Grace has been doing this in the library quite successfully. The Board seemed receptive to the idea, although no decision was made a the meeting.