BREWER, Maine — State Sen. Richard Rosen, R-Bucksport, held an informal gathering of school superintendents in his Senate district Wednesday to get feedback about massive projected shortfalls in the state’s budget, and possibly in local school funding.
The state is facing a “daunting task,” Rosen said. First, legislators must find funds to fill the $50 million hole created when cash reserves were shifted to balance out the budget that ended in June. Then they have been directed to find an additional $30 million in savings for the second year of the biannual budget cycle, he said.
Now, factor in that revenues from the first four weeks of the current budget year are down by more than $26 million from projections, and it’s easy to see the predicament, he told six area superintendents seated around the table.
“I think I’ve painted a significantly gloomy picture,” he said.
Rosen asked the group if they had suggestions about how to address the problems and what they would like to see. The group included Brewer Superintendent Daniel Lee, Orrington Superintendent Allan Snell, RSU 34 Superintendent David Walker, Milford Superintendent John Davis and SAD 31 Superintendent Jerry White.
RSU 34 includes the communities of Alton, Bradley and Old Town, and SAD 31 covers the communities of Burlington, Edinburg, Enfield, Howland, Maxfield and Passadumkeag.
“It’s no surprise to any of us that we’re in serious trouble,” Lee said.
White added, “I’m a raging optimist, but we’re in deep doo-doo.”
With the recession going strong in Maine, Lee said, “the question I want to know is if I’m going to see a curtailment in fiscal year ’10.”
Lee and others at the table said they are worried and already are making cuts, and have decided not to fill open positions.
“Anybody who leaves a position is not going to be [replaced],” White said. “We’re going to spread the work around.”
The problem with making cuts in a school district is that “80 to 85 percent of our budgets is people,” Lee said. “You can tell us to get together to buy paper, but I have to lay people off to produce significant savings.”
“I’ve already not filled two teaching positions, three ed tech positions and curtailed all discretionary spending,” Boothby said, adding he has also asked all of his department heads to cut 8 percent from their budgets. “I don’t think that’s going to be enough. It gives me a head start.”
All the superintendents said the earlier they find out about any possible cuts in school funding, the better.
“The fact is there isn’t any money,” Snell said. “Superintendents have been thrown under the bus, and then it was backed up. And then again. Just tell us. It will hurt, but we’ll do” what needs to be done.
After the meeting, Rosen said he got the message loud and clear — school leaders want honest news as soon as possible.
“The sooner we deal with it, the better,” he said. “To just pretend we don’t have to face these issues, it doesn’t help the future and doesn’t help our kids.”
Rosen said the Appropriations Committee is working now, even though the Legislature is on break, and plans to meet more often this fall to work on ways to address the budget problems and, it is hoped, identify budget cuts for the full Legislature to consider in January.