BIDDEFORD — With Biddeford schools facing a $1.4 million revenue shortfall for the next fiscal year, School Committee members will have to decide whether to eliminate as many as 28 staff positions if cuts aren’t found elsewhere.

“We’re looking at staff and extracurricular because there is nowhere else to draw from and we don’t have the stabilization funds” from the federal stimulus that helped Biddeford and other districts balance budgets in the last year, said School Committee member Tammy Fleurant. “We have to be creative to bring in more money or save.”

The committee voted 5-1, with one member absent Tuesday night, to send a $31.1 million school budget to the City Council for review.

The budget presented to the School Committee on Tuesday by its Finance Committee called for $32.5 million in spending in the year that starts July 1, with only $31.1 million projected revenue.

With direction from the City Council to submit a balanced budget, the School Committee decided to knock the spending down to $31.1 million, then work to decide how to cut the $1.4 million.

The committee hasn’t yet considered which staff positions might be cut.

The budget for this school year is $29.1 million.

Committee member Anthony Michaud opposed cutting spending without seeing possible solutions first. “Show me what you would like to do and show me the impact,” he said.

Laura Seaver, describing herself as a fiscally conservative School Committee member, said the Finance Committee discussed cutting funding for athletics or starting a pay-to-play program for student athletes in the middle and high schools.

The district could save about $315,000 if athletics funding were cut, she said. There were no estimates available indicating how much revenue fees for school sports would produce.

“Other than that, it has to come down to staff,” Seaver said.

While the school budget’s impact on Biddeford’s property tax rate was not calculated, Mayor Joanne Twomey, who chairs the School Committee, said residents can expect as much as a 9 percent tax increase based on the school and municipal budgets.

Several parents and students attended Tuesday night’s meeting to address ongoing air quality concerns at Biddeford High School.

Last week, the School Committee voted 4-2 to spend as much as $39,000 for further review of air quality in the school, which is in the midst of a $34 million renovation project.

Emma James, a sophomore at the school, thanked committee members Roberta Bernier, Peggy Bean, Michaud and Seaver, who voted in favor of funding additional testing.

She said that since January, more than 100 students have gone to the school nurse with symptoms attributed to poor air quality.

Before the meeting, the four committee members held a press conference at the Wonder Bar in Biddeford to “correct and clarify recent statements” by Twomey criticizing their vote.

Seaver said the $39,000 approved is “slightly more than one-tenth of one percent of the total renovation project.”

Two students were hospitalized in the fall with severe allergic reactions, and others have complained of headaches, dizziness and difficulty breathing.

Because the symptoms started cropping up after construction began, Seaver said Ledgewood Construction, the company that is doing the renovation, should be responsible for the further air quality testing.

If it doesn’t pay, she said, the school district has an estimated $600,000 that will be carried over from this year’s budget to next year and $220,000 in a cultural enrichment fund. 

Staff Writer Emma Bouthillette can be contacted at 791-6325 or at: ebouthillette@pressherald.com