The Scarborough Schools Leadership Council and Board of Education are pleased to present our FY 24 Budget. The detailed budget development process begins with our “level services” budget, which equates to the resources required to maintain the same programs and services that the school district currently provides.

Overall, our expense increase of 5.78% is in line with the experienced rate of inflation. We are proposing expenses of $64.6M for our three operating budgets (K-12, Adult Education and School Nutrition), representing an increase over the FY 23 budget of $3.5M. The majority of
this increase comes from investment in our staffing through negotiated collective bargaining agreements, as well as the addition of staffing to meet critical student needs.

Here are just a few examples of what our proposed budget will allow us to accomplish in FY 24:

● Meet the identified special needs of our incoming students with individualized programming
● Retain 3 ESSER grant funded teachers to maintain effective class sizes
● Retain 1 ESSER grant funded school counselor for the K-2 schools
● Increase access for our new Mainers with additional Multilingual Learner instruction
● Increase literacy support and interventions to address learning gaps
● Continue summer academy opportunities to address learning gaps
● Provide direct instruction in SEL to K-8 students with new specialized curriculum

On the revenue side of the budget, we received welcome news from the State noting an increase in funding of just under $1M more than previous years. Because of this, our overall net operating budget is increasing by 4.42% to $54.3M.

Our Capital Improvements budget, which is mainly funded via municipal bonding, is budgeted at $140.5M for FY 24. This includes $137.5M that is set aside for the anticipated K-8 School initiative that will be voted on in November. We have also budgeted for just under $3M in projects and large purchases that will improve the district’s equipment and infrastructure, fund energy improvements, roof restoration, security and access management, flooring replacement, and HVAC repairs and replacements.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to the Board of Education or District Leadership with any questions you may have. Please visit our website to view the budget in more detail.