BRUNSWICK
It’s budget season again, and school board members want input and suggestions from the people who pay the bills.
Instead of the board’s regular meeting, a public forum will be held to discuss the upcoming 2013-14 school budget process. The meeting is 6 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 23 at Brunswick Station, 16 Station Ave., Suite 217.
Board members and administrators will present a brief overview of budgetary requirements and constraints, then open the floor for discussion.
Among the issues likely to be discussed are $235,000 in state funding cuts recently ordered by Gov. Paul LePage, a budget hole that will have to be filled next year or worked around somehow.
Brunswick’s current school budget is $33.4 million, and nobody’s predicting yet whether it will go up or down.
“If there’s a recurring theme, it’s how to do more with less,” according to finance director Jim Oikle. “I don’t look at a number. Obviously, we’re concerned about the total cost of the budget. But I take the educational program that the administration and teachers want to provide and and try to price it out.”
A similar forum was held last year and generated enough positive discussion and feedback that board members and Superintendent Paul Perzanoski decided to try it again.
jtleonard@timesrecord.com
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