BRUNSWICK, Maine — Faced with cuts to a school budget before it has even been formally proposed to the Town Council, the Brunswick School Board is grappling with how to eliminate about $750,000, a number broached during discussions between the superintendent and town manager.
The board may decide Wednesday on a budget to pass on to the Town Council. After winning Town Council approval, the proposed spending plan will be accepted or rejected by Brunswick voters in a referendum.
Superintendent Paul Perzanoski recommended to the board on Tuesday that the assistant superintendent’s position, which will be vacated when Gregory Bartlett retires this summer, not be filled. That would result in a $135,000 savings for the district, though board members balked at the prospect.
“I think you guys are overburdened already,” said board member Christopher McCarthy. “I don’t think we should be cutting the 750 grand to begin with.”
To find savings, Perzanoski recommended the elimination of a remedial math instructor ($98,000) and a K-5 technology integrator ($62,553).
Perzanoski is recommending that a reading strategist at Coffin School ($97,000) and a language art position at the junior high ($90,000) go unfilled.
Board members also were concerned about a proposed reorganization of K-5 special education programs in order to save $122,870.
More teaching positions would be on the chopping block should the Town Council request deeper cuts, said Perzanoski.
Perzanoski had submitted to the school board two weeks ago plans for a $37 million budget, of which Brunswick taxpayers would pay $23.7 million. That would amount to a 4 percent property tax increase.
Members of the Town Council, however, have said they are keen to have as little a tax increase as possible. Town Manager John Eldridge has requested that the school board limit its increase to 2 percent, which would eliminate $750,000 from the initial budget presented by Perzanoski.
McCarthy said he wouldn’t support any cuts to what Perzanoski had originally proposed two weeks ago, but Perzanoski said there would be no support from the Town Council for that amount of increase. Other members said the board needed to put a good faith effort in restricting its budget proposal, though that may cause reductions in the district’s workforce.
“We really have no place left to go,” said Perzanoski, noting that since 2010, Brunswick schools have lost 97 positions.
The nature of the proposed cuts are troubling to some.
McCarthy warned that “it’s clear the targeted areas tend to focus on kids who need the greatest help in school.”
“I am becoming further dismayed that we are seeing academic cuts and student service cuts, but not extracurricular cuts,” said school board member Brenda Clough.
“I think we’re spending too much money on sports,” said resident Karen Topp, adding that more emphasis ought to be placed on intramural and less on varsity sports, which she said was a “sacred cow” to many in the community.
According to member Rich Ellis, Brunswick schools lost 30 percent of its student population in the years since the closure of the Brunswick Naval Air Station, while the percentage of economically disadvantaged children in the district has increased.
Meanwhile, Perzanoski noted that the district has lost $7 million in revenue from the state and other sources since 2008.
“Certainly the council wants as low a tax increase as possible,” said Town Councilor Jane Millett, in an interview after Tuesday’s meeting. “Our revenues are declining, and so we’ve got to make tough choices here. The school board is in excruciating pain, and I think the council is in excruciating pain.”