HOLDEN, Maine — The SAD 63 budget committee is still working on next year’s draft budget but plans to unveil it to the full board at a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Holbrook School, Superintendent Dave Anderson said Friday.
The reason for the special meeting is twofold, he said.
“We’re dealing with the budget and the secondary tuition contract with Brewer High School,” Anderson said. “We’ll also set the public meeting date, so the public can” ask questions about the preliminary budget and vote on it before it goes to referendum in June.
The public hearing on the budget will be scheduled for mid- or late May, he said.
After SAD 63 and CSD 8 joined to create a prekindergarten through eighth-grade alternative organizational structure, AOS 81, they needed a nonexclusive contract with a high school and chose Brewer.
The draft 10-year contract with Brewer is modeled after one created between the city and neighboring Dedham and Orrington, which allows Brewer to charge the sending districts for a portion of debt service associated with money borrowed for improvements at Brewer High School. School choice is maintained under the contract, so students still can attend John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor and other high schools.
The proposed contract will be presented to the board Tuesday and, if approved, will be presented to residents in SAD 63 (Holden, Eddington and Clifton) and CSD 8 (Amherst, Aurora, Great Pond and Osborn) at the June referendum.
Under AOS 81, both SAD 63 and CSD 8 will have their own budgets and school boards, and an AOS board will manage a combined superintendent and special education office, Anderson said.
A June 14 referendum is planned for AOS 81 residents to vote on the contract with Brewer and their individual school budgets.
Once the SAD 63 school board approves the preliminary budget, it will be posted on the district’s website, Anderson said.