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REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT
This is my first report to you as your Superintendent of Schools. I want to thank the many fine people I have met, and I
look forward to meeting many more of you.
MSAD #74 is a small, rural school system spread out over several square miles. The financial challenges facing school
systems like ours are numerous but the potential educational rewards are many. This has been a challenging year for
Maine school systems. It appears Maine school systems will face several more years of difficult financial times and we
must adapt as we go along. The national economy began a melt-down unlike any citizens have experienced since the
Great Depression. A new President was elected with new ideas and a new agenda. At the same time, the Maine economy
felt the impact of a weak national economy and state revenue forecasts starting a steady downturn. As a result, the
Governor developed a plan for addressing the state revenue shortfall because the state must also balance its budget. Many
state agencies were impacted by a series of cuts. Maine’s school systems were certainly impacted and small school
systems shouldered a disproportionate burden because of their reliance on state subsidies. Initially, part of the Governor’s
plan called for the state to take back part of school subsidy. This was called a curtailment. MSAD #74, like other school
systems, found itself short on revenue. As part of President Obama’s approach to solving the financial crisis facing our
nation, federal money was provided as a means of stimulating the economy. The Governor decided to use some of the
state stimulus money to repay the curtailment loss in the 2008-2009 school budget, and to shore up the state share of
school funding called EPS for 2009-2010. Given the federal stimulus money is short lived and can only be counted on for
this year and next, the second year of the state budget will find state funding for General Purpose Aid (GPA) to schools
decrease by over $55 million. School systems must plan now for a significant decrease in state subsidy in the 2010-2011
fiscal year. Another challenge faced by all school systems was, and remains, school consolidation. Fortunately, the
Legislature found a way to remove the penalties for those systems that voted in favor of consolidation saving MSAD #74
a $150,000 loss in state subsidy since our district voted in favor of consolidation. However, this reprieve is only good for
one year.
Budget and Budget Approval Process
This year the state has been very slow in announcing anticipated subsidies placing school systems in the difficult position
of trying to guess what the Governor and Commissioner of Education will propose and what the Legislature will vote to
fund. Building budgets without knowing the amount of your primary revenue source is impossible. The reason for the
delay this year was the state revenue forecasts got worse with each month. The Legislature only recently passed a state
budget that includes school subsidies.
Given the economy, closing Central School, and concern for local taxes, the Board recognized the need to keep the budget
down so they explored many difficult options. Eventually they agreed to eliminate some positions. Employees were also
encouraged to keep their expenditure requests to essentials, which they did. As a result, our proposed expenditures for
2009-2010 are about even with the current budget. With the EPS school funding law working as designed, the MSAD #74
share of state subsidy decreased significantly shifting the burden to local communities. The two major factors that affect
subsidy are town valuations and number of students. Both of these factors worked against MSAD #74 this year, as there
was a declining student population and an average property value increase higher than the state average. Considering the
loss in state subsidy I am pleased to report the proposed budget only increased the local assessments by 3.4% with two
town assessments going down and two increasing slightly. I have included Budget Category Information and 2009-2010
Local Share information in this mailing for your information.
The process for approval of the school budget is a two-step process. The first step is a Budget Meeting, which will be
held on June 23, 2009, at Carrabec High School at 7:00 p.m. At the Budget Meeting, the proposed budget articles will be
presented, discussed, and voted upon by all the citizens present. The second step is a Budget Validation Referendum
where citizens will vote “yes” that they agree, or “no” that they disagree with the results of the votes from the Budget
Meeting. MSAD #74’s Budget Validation Referendum will take place June 30, 2009, as indicated below.
I strongly encourage you to attend the District Budget Meeting and to vote in the District Budget Validation Referendum
in support of MSAD #74’s 2009-2010 budget.
Respectfully submitted,
____________________________________________
Kenneth Smith, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
DISTRICT BUDGET MEETING
June 23, 2009
7:00 p.m.
at Carrabec High School
DISTRICT BUDGET VALIDATION REFERENDUM
June 30, 2009
Town of Residency Location of Voting Times Polls are Open
Anson, North Anson Anson Town Office 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Embden Embden Town Office 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
New Portland New Portland Fire Station 9:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Solon Municipal Office Conference Room 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
BUDGET CATEGORY INFORMATION
2009-2010
1.) Regular Instruction: $3,251,218
Elementary Instruction Programs 1,968,048
Secondary Instruction Programs 1,283,170
2.) Special Education Instruction: $1,504,063
Special Education Programs 1,504,063
3.) CTE Instruction: $33,189
Career and Technical Education 33,189
Career and Technical Education Instruction
4.) Other instruction (including summer school and extracurricular instruction): $222,329
Elementary Co-Curricular 109,770
Secondary Co-Curricular 112,559
5.) Student and staff support: $581,131
Student Support Services
Guidance Services 103,062
Health Services 59,722
Instructional Technology 213,171
Staff Support Services
Improvement of Instruction/Staff Training 55,204
Elementary Library Services 60,978
Secondary Library Services 54,784
Student Assessment 34,210
6.) System administration: $183,320
Office of the Superintendent 143,966
Board of Directors 39,354
7.) School administration: $566,706
Office of the Principal-Elementary 317,979
Office of the Principal-Secondary 248,727
8.) Transportation: Transportation $679,786
9.) Facilities maintenance: $1,247,647
Operation & Maintenance of Plant
Maintenance/Custodial 1,237,647
Capital Enhancement & Improvement 10,000
10.) Debt services: Debt Service Payments $630,039
11.) All other expenditures, including school lunch: $78,340
Food Service Transfer 78,340
TOTAL BUDGET $8,977,768
2009-2010 LOCAL SHARE
REQUIRED LOCAL-EPS ADDITIONAL LOCAL
(100% VALUATION) (45% VAL 55% ENROLL)
CO ST CO ST ADDITIO NAL
LO CAL
TO WN SHARING SHARING LO CAL
ALLO C ATIO N
FO RMULA FO RMULA FUNDS
ANSON 24.99% $ 673,309 ANSON 39.40% $ 244,135
EMBDEN 45.01% 1,212,529 EMBDEN 30.30% 187,749
NEW PORTLAND 13.82% 372,327 NEW PORTLAND 11.80% 73,117
SOLON 16.18% 435,708 SOLON 18.50% 114,632
TOTAL 100.0% $ 2,693,873 TOTAL 100.0% $ 619,633
TOTAL OF REQUIREDD LOCAL & ADDITIONAL LOCAL WITH ADULT ED
SCHO O L 2009-2010 2008-2009
ADULT
BUDGET GRAND GRAND DIFFERENCE
EDUCATIO N
TO TAL TO TAL TO TAL
ANSON $ 917,444 $ 9,939 927,383 $ 954,654 $ (27,271) -2.86%
EMBDEN 1,400,278 7,643 1,407,921 1,299,352 $ 108,569 8.36%
NEW PORTLAND 445,444 2,976 448,420 415,040 $ 33,380 8.04%
SOLON 550,340 4,667 555,007 559,942 $ (4,935) -0.88%
TOTAL $ 3,313,506 $ 25,225 $ 3,338,731 $ 3,228,988 $ 109,743 3.40%
MSAD #74
Nonprofit Organization
P.O. BOX 360
U.S. Postage
ANSON, ME 04911-0360 PAID
Anson, ME 04911
*****ECRWSS**
POSTAL CUSTOMER
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