BREWER, Maine — The Brewer School Department is asking the city for an increase of more than $1 million for the coming school year to hire more staff.
The request would be equal to 13.9 percent more than last year’s budget — which the city says raises concerns.
“The budget presented [May 8] is a $1.2 million increase over last year’s appropriation, so it’s substantial,” Karen Fussell, the city’s finance director, said Tuesday.
The school district this year saw 130 new students, more than half of whom are getting special education services, Superintendent Cheri Towle said Friday. Those students are taught based on Individualized Education Plans, which in some cases call for extra services.
“We have had 73 students with IEPs newly enrolled in Brewer this year and 10 of those students have required the 1:1 ed tech support,” said Gretchen Gardner, business manager for the school department. “The services designated in a student’s IEP are required to be followed under federal mandate. Our budget is not able to cover this need without adding these 10 educational technician positions.”
The district this year also hired long-term substitute teachers to handle the extra students, according to Towle.
The larger budget request is also driven by new state rules on proficiency-based graduation requirements for this year’s incoming high school freshmen, officials said.
“These are driving our expenses up considerably this year which has compounded the ‘normal’ salary and benefit increases, and utility cost increases that we are faced with every year,” said Gardner.
The request for new hires comes just one year after the school department cut a dozen positions based on decreasing student population projections.
Last month, Towle said the department was considering adding 18 new positions, but that estimate was cut to 13 — with the 10 special education ed techs, one occupational therapist and two second grade teachers to accommodate a large incoming class.
The fiscal year 2017-18 draft budget figure also has changed in the last month, increasing from $21.95 million presented in April to $21.98 million, according to school department data. A second reading of the draft budget is scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday.
The district does not yet know how much it may receive in state subsidies for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The state funded $9.8 million for fiscal year 2016-17. Towle said she expects the amount to increase.