Draft School Budget Proposes 6% Overall Increase
Just over 12% proposed increase for town appropriation
BAR HARBOR—Bar Harbor budget season began Monday, November 6, as the Bar Harbor Superintending School Committee met with the Warrant Subcommittee on Education in the Conners Emerson Library. The school’s principal, Dr. Heather Webster, presented the school’s draft budget to both bodies. It’s one of the many steps before the School Committee refines or tweaks the budget and sends it to the town manager two weeks before he presents it to the Town Council.
BUDGET
The potential budget proposes a 6.17% increase in total revenues with 12.12% coming from town appropriation via property taxes. The budget calls for:
Raising a total $8,844,651 in total revenues
Raising $7,734,588 from town appropriations
Last year’s budget was $8,330,965 for total revenues.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget is not set in stone and includes:
An estimated $645,000 in state subsidy
Approximately $12,000 in tuition
And $453,000 in carryover from the fund balance.
“We’re still looking at saving $120,000,” School Superintendent Michael Zboray said about that carryover.
The amount of state subsidy is always a guess this early in the process. That subsidy is determined by funding formulas and at the end of January, the school has a better understanding of that number.
Certain expenses within the budget are fixed. Those include contracted salaries and benefits for teachers and staff. Ed tech salaries are increasing by 11% and teachers salaries (3-8) has an increase of 7.18%. Other elements have a bit more flexibility, but are still hard to predict. Webster hoped to reduce the amount of substitutes used this upcoming budget year. COVID-19, she said, increased the need for substitutes and therefore the budget went up in the past to pay them. The school also reimburses staff for classes they take to further their skills and education, to advance to master’s degrees or receive certifications.
Staff travel lines in the budget have been bulked up in some areas because not everything is all Zoom any longer, she said.
“It’s kind of a balancing act to try to find things to take out of the budget,” Webster said.
The budget includes special academic programs such as Sea Camp where students learn about geology and weather, as well as safety care stipends of $1,000 a semester for de-escalation technique training for staff who work with students who require de-escalation. There is currently $11,000 budgeted for that. Recertification occurs yearly.
The expansion of summer school also calls for an expansion of cost, which means it’s increasing $3,000. Two new special education teachers who have been hired, require more training and therefore more cost.
The town’s probable sewer and water increases also increase the school budget since the school is on town water and sewer. The budget increases this by 27.27% to $28,000. Electric costs have a similar increase of 27.42% to $79,000.
Then there is the cost to just maintain the building while the new school is being built. Webster is also proposing the music teacher increase from 80% time to 100%.
The school committee will discuss the budget again at an upcoming meeting before finalizing it. The Town Council and Warrant Committee also make recommendations about the budget. The final budget occurs via voters at the June 2024 town meeting.
Robert Chaplin, Louise Lopez, and Shaun Farrar were members of the Warrant Subcommittee that attended. Finance Director Sarah Gilbert was also attending.
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Also at the meeting, Webster said that the school currently has 347 students.
“Our fourth grade keeps growing,” Webster said. The fourth grade hosts 54 students.
She also said they’ve had a few cases of COVID “here or there.”
There is an early release day November 17 for a professional workshop. Webster also spoke of the TIGERaffle, which has raised $24,000 and was organized by the school’s Parent Teacher Student Association. The month of drawings can be viewed every day on the PTSA’s Facebook page.
“The PTSA is wonderful,” Webster said.
The kitchen’s hood system has been updated and is now back in service.
“Now we can actually cook a hamburger,” Webster said.
Coach Bender brought the school’s soccer team to the island finals last Friday and fifth graders are heading to COA for interviews and work on writing skills later this week. The school also marched through town last week for its Halloween parade.
MINIVAN PURCHASE
The committee approved the purchase of a 2022 Toyota Sienna hybrid minivan for $40,190. The van has eight seats, Webster said.
“I feel like this is kind of the dream van we’re looking for. It hits every box that we have,” and she feels like it’s fiscally responsible. The van, she stressed, has “no real bells and whistles.”
She had a litany of things the van will be used for including: outdoor club, bringing students to Willowind Therapeutic Riding Center, getting kids who missed the bus to school, special academic, and smaller co-curricular trips. Previously, staff had to use personal vehicles for many of these events.
NEW SCHOOL BUILDING UPDATE
Webster said there is a follow-up meeting November 14 about the construction of a new $55-million school. This month the committee will be wrapping up interviews with staff members about needs, ideas, and tweaks.
“It’s been pretty exciting,” Webster said of the process.
Different aspects of the design have had some changes. The gym has been turned so the bleachers are in a better spot. There have been distributive dining changes. Now they are moving from the big ideas to the small details and will also look again at security for the classrooms and access from one room to another. The updated version of the floor plan will be out in a month or so, she said.
FUNDRAISING FOR NEW SCHOOL
Chair Lilea Simis said that the new bond attorney has said there is no restriction on how to raise the money for the school bond. There is a standing meeting about fundraising every Wednesday.
“It is slowly coming together,” Simis said.
She also asked the committee for recommendations about potentially hiring a consultant to help raise money for the bond. Any money raised would reduce the tax burden on property owners.
BUS CONTRACT
The committee also quickly heard an update about a contract with Cyr for busses. The current contract ends in July.
Zboray talked about potentially building up a system of busses to have districtwide busses to support the school. This means that the school would not use Cyr busses, but would purchase its own.
Vice Chair Marie Yarborough asked if this was part of a greater transportation plan.
The drivers would be supported by the AOS or another different organizational structure, which Zboray believes would be more efficient.
“It’s going to take time,” Zboray said of any such change.
Currently, he said, each school has its own busses except for Trenton and Bar Harbor. Trenton seems likely to purchase its own busses.
Yarborough said they’ve spent a lot of time with their relationship with Cyr and they’ve had no issues getting students to things. She wanted to know why they would change that if there have been no issues. She worried that if the committee said it was trying to pull away from Cyr, how would it look trying to get a new contract with the company.
Zboray said superintendents before him have floated this idea and the questions are still out there, including what would happen if the system reorganizes. He said there was no plan right now because of those bigger questions.
“Cyr has been a great partner to schools,” Zboray said. A future transportation plan for all the schools in the system could be a partial hybrid with Conners-Emerson.
When Cyr doesn’t have drivers, they call on RSS Operations Manager Eric Hann.
“The whole district has been supporting each other,” Hann said. “Everyone has problems with bussing. Everyone doesn’t have enough people.”
Webster said that sometimes it’s been difficult for trips, but they’ve been fortunate with very little driver turnover and consistency working with Cyr.
The school’s last contract with Cyr was for two years.
SCHOOL RESOURCE OFFICER MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING
School Committee member Misha Mytar had to excuse herself from the meeting before the vote, but the committee was unanimous as it recommended signing a memorandum of understanding with the Bar Harbor and Mount Desert Police Departments to continue having a school resource officer.
Disclosure: Shaun Farrar is my husband and was also elected to the Warrant Committee last June. He also writes for the Bar Harbor Story. He was appointed to be on the education subcommittee.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
Superintending School Committee