BATH

Adding a health educator position will still allow Regional School Unit 1 to adhere to a 2013-14 budget that’s 6.6 percent higher than this year’s, Superintendent Patrick Manuel said Monday night.

The health educator would be present at Bath Middle School and Woolwich Central School.

Already, the new RSU 1 cost-sharing formula will mean hefty tax increases in Woolwich and West Bath, and also an increase in Bath. A bond referendum also is looming for needed improvements at RSU 1 schools.

“It’s always that fine line on what people might consider to be a larger increase than what we have had in the past, and what we need for our students,” Manuel said in front of a large turnout at Monday’s public budget forum.

“Plus, there could be a bond for facilities,” he said, “because our facilities are in rough shape.”

Some RSU 1 residents, concerned with the threat of suicide and the presence of alcohol and drug-abuse problems among students, have called for a health educator since the beginning of the school year. Budgetary constraints forced the school unit to eliminate the position a couple of years ago.

Manuel noted that a health educator has been “on the radar screen.”

In order to accommodate the position and stay at 6.6 percent on the budget increase, administrators have proposed cutting back on two educational technician jobs. In addition, kindergarten and grade 1 would be combined at Phippsburg Elementary School. Currently, Manuel said, there are five kindergarten students at Phippsburg, and nine first-graders.

All board members present expressed support for the budget as planned.

Earlier, District 7 Director William Perkins, chairman of the Facilities Committee, updated the board on the condition of RSU 1 facilities. According to a recent study, Perkins said, RSU 1 must take a close look at the state of its schools.

“Everybody has to take a long, comprehensive look at that material,” Perkins said. “It looks like we will have to look into a bond.”

Manuel added that RSU 1 expects a professional evaluation of the physical plant at Morse High School in early May.

RSU 1 directors will conduct a second reading of the budget at 6 p.m. Monday, May 6, at Bath Middle School. The spending plan then goes to a public budget meeting on May 28 at Bath Middle School and a budget validation referendum on June 4.

RSU1 budget changes

COMPONENTS OF A PROPOSED $27.7 million budget, which would translate to a 6.6 percent increase from 2012-13: — Adds a health coordinator to serve at Bath Middle School and

Woolwich Central School. — Adds fifth-grade teacher at Woolwich and a kindergarten teacher at West Bath Elementary School. — Combines kindergarten and first-grade classes at Phippsburg

Elementary School. — One fewer educational technician than was planned at Woolwich, and perhaps one less at Dike-Newell School.