FARMINGDALE — In the largest turnout in recent years, more than 150 residents voted to pass the $31.5 million proposed school budget at Wednesday night’s regional budget meeting.   

Regional School Unit 2’s $31,532,162 spending plan represents a $1.5 million increase, or 5%, over the current year’s budget, with less than a 1% increase for taxpayers. 

Because of a steady decline in enrollment over the past couple of years, budget cuts — and additions — were made to the proposed budget to accommodate the changing school landscape.  

In his presentation at Hall-Dale Middle & High School, Superintendent Richard Amero said the school board has shown the budget nearly a dozen times to the community, which may have contributed to the large turnout that was nearly double the size of the crowd that typically attends the regional budget meetings.   

Voters asked questions about the board’s decisions around the budget, with only a few voters attempting to adjust the budget. Jeffrey Bickford, a former school board member from Dresden, attempted to slash the adult education budget from $20,000 to $5,000.

“Adult education supports the students, and this (money) supports the adult education program to fund an advisor, administrators, and teachers to help the students that our system fails,” Josh Farr, director of the Kennebec Neighbors Adult Education program said. “No one likes to admit or talk about that, but these are students who do not have success in public schools. If this moves forward, we will have to look at cuts from teachers,”   

Farr started the Kennebec Neighbors Adult Education program in 2023, a collaborative program with the Gardiner, Winthrop and RSU 2 communities to help provide the high school diploma equivalent for students who opt to take that route.

Bickford asked how many students the program serves, but Farr said it’s complicated, as it depends on several factors, like housing, or time needed to complete the program. It could be six students, or it could be 14, he said.  

After hearing from Farr and several other members of the audience, Bickford’s motion failed. Last year, Bickford attempted to cut the budget by $2 million; if passed, that would have resulted in the loss of 22 teachers.

The total local contribution to the budget is $16,701,476, an increase of $145,557, or just under 1%. It breaks down this way:

• Dresden will pay $2,385,003, or an increase of $15,776.

• Farmingdale will pay $3,662,498, or an increase of $21,600.

• Hallowell will pay $3,901,921, or a decrease of $66,371.

• Monmouth will pay $6,752,555, or an increase of $174,551. 

The budget includes cuts of two teachers from Hall-Dale Elementary School, two from Monmouth Academy and one districtwide teacher to make up for the enrollment decline of more than two dozen students.

However, the school board added a social studies teacher, a prekindergarten education technician, and some part-time positions, like a nurse and teachers trained in behavior intervention.  

Farmingdale resident Joe Colfer asked about the district’s spending in the special education department — around $5.9 million — and wondered what it entails for a student to need special services.

Deb Murphy, the district’s special education director, said that services are required by law.  

“We have over 350 students that we provide services for,” Murphy said. “We have everything from speech therapy to out-of-district placements. We have a continuum of services. Children have a right to be in schools and the right to get the services they need. This (money) also represents over 100 staff members from teacher to ed techs.”    

Other factors driving up next year’s budget are state mandates, like paid family leave, which comes to around $80,000 for the district, and salary increases for teachers and substitute teachers to be more competitive with other school districts. Health insurance went up 12.5%, dental insurance increased by 3%, liability insurance increased by 12% and utilities are up by 10%. 

The final warrant article asked voters to allow the school board to use leftover fund balance to correct overspending in the 2023-24 school year, totaling $142,000. A group of parents advocated for the money to be kept as leftover funds and allocated by the school board to replace a broken-down playground at Hall-Dale Elementary School. The meeting moderator said the allocation would have to be its own warrant article for it to be allocated specifically for a playground.

Residents will have an opportunity to vote again on the budget by secret ballot on June 10 in the annual voting referendum.