BRUNSWICK

The Brunswick Town Council will hear public comments at 7 p.m. tonight at Town Hall regarding the proposed combined 2017-18 budget proposal — more than half of which consists of school district spending. Meanwhile, the school board is grappling with how to reduce its proposed $38 million spending plan by a half-million dollars, as suggested by the council.

Since the first draft presented earlier this year, the school budget has been pared down by $849,580, and is described now as a maintenance budget. It is an increase of $282,933 from last year’s approved budget. To mitigate the tax burden, the initial cuts included two fulltime and one part-time teaching position, a language lab at the high school and money earmarked for maintenance repairs.

The school board Wednesday voted not to replace several teaching positions for next year, including a parttime English teacher at the high school, two business education positions at the high school and a consumer and life studies position.

The reductions do not result in termination of staff positions, but will be made up through attrition.

The district pitched their spending plan to the council late last month. Totaling $38 million, the portion to be raised from local tax revenue is $24 million.

Board member Ben Tucker said it seems the council wants about $500,000 eliminated from the proposed budget, limiting the total tax impact to a 3 percent increase. Residents could face up to a 5 percent increase in their tax bill if the combined proposed school, municipal and county budgets — totaling $63 million — pass as is.

Superintendent Paul Perzanoski said last month that for the first time, the development of the budget has been built on Gov. Paul LePage’s proposal without input from the Legislature. He said the final decision on what is appropriated to the district from the state will not be made until after the June vote on the budget.

In the last three years, the state has burdened the local taxpayer with more responsibility for funding school operations, first starting with district’s paying for teachers’ retirement. In 2018, that cost is $680,000. LePage’s proposal to eliminate reimbursement for system wide administration decreases funding by an additional $1 million.

Additional Brunswick budget cuts could include a full-time curriculum coordinator position, a part-time educational technician at the high school, a special education teacher who works system-wide, one resource officer position and two response to intervention teachers — one at the high school and one at Coffin Elementary School. A proposed freshman sports program may also be eliminated.

Parent Buckley Hugo cautioned the board not to make cuts that would disproportionately impact students who need special education services, or who may not be pursuing a college degree. He said even if maintaining certain courses costs more, it’s worth it to serve every student, regardless of career path or need.

A provision may be added to the budget that stipulates if additional subsidy is kicked back to the district from the state following budget adoption in mid-June, the additional $500,000 in cuts will be restored to the budget, and any remaining money will be used to mitigate the tax impact, said Tucker. This policy has not yet been written, but would also allow the restoration without going through the budget process again.

Student liaison to the board Elina Woolever said she has always felt she received an excellent education, but fears future students may not have the same opportunity. She urged residents to re-evaluate priorities, and consider that a quality education system attracts families to town and is good for the local economy. Woolever said academics will suffer if more cuts are applied.

Business Manager Kelly Wentworth said nearly 90 percent of the school budget consists of non-discretionary, fixed costs, such as salaries, benefits, utilities and debt service. The breakdown of the budget by the top three articles shows 43 percent of the money, or $16 million, goes toward funding regular instruction. Special education is allocated $5.4 million, or 14 percent of the budget, and facilities absorbs about 12 percent, at $4.5 million.

Of the 2,313 students that attend Brunswick schools, 382 receive special education services, which accounts for about 17 percent of total enrollment, the budget presented to the council shows.

jlaaka@timesrecord.com