PARIS — Voters in the School Administrative District 17’s eight towns approved the $39.1 million budget at Tuesday night’s annual town election by a 1,255 to 655 vote.
A total of 67.33 percent of the voters in the eight towns voted in favor of the budget that was approved during the annual town meeting on June 9 during the first of the two-part vote necessary to approve the budget.
Tuesday’s vote was a straight yes-or-no affirmation of the town meeting action that allowed voters to approve separate line items in the budget.
The 2016-17 budget is $717,985, or 1.87 percent, more than the $38.29 million for this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
“The school district worked very hard to make the budget meet the needs of our students and the concerns of our taxpayers,” Superintendent Rick Colpitts said Tuesday night. “The budget is the lowest it has been in seven years. I think the taxpayers appreciated the effort.”
The eight district towns voted on the budget as follows:
- Oxford, approved, 289 to 149;
- Norway, approved 344 to 121;
- Otisfield, approved, 99 to 28;
- Harrison, approved, 128 to 59;
- Hebron, approved, 48 to 10;
- Paris, approved, 538 to 360;
- Waterford, approved, 84 to 26; and
- West Paris, approved, 69 to 23.
Approval of the budget number allows school officials to move forward in their plans to address crowding at Oxford Elementary School by creating a fifth-grade teaching position at Otisfield Community School and having the fourth-grade class remain at Otisfield next year. The move will return the Otisfield school to grades kindergarten to six.
The budget includes $75,000 for three educational technicians at West Paris, Hebron and Harrison elementary schools, which do not have full-time principals, and $21,750 for a pilot program to use Chromebook computers at Otisfield Community School.
The budget approval also includes Vocational Region 11’s $3.76 million operating budget.
The largest part of the budget, $15.01 million, is for regular education costs.
Other parts of the budget include:
• $5.41 million, special education;
• $3.13 million, career and technical education;
• $730,657, other instruction;
• $811,617, system administration;
• $2.2 million, school administration;
• $3 million, student and staff support;
• $2.45 million, buses and transportation;
• $4.17 million, facilities maintenance;
• $1.84 million, debt service and other commitments;
• $474,482, adult education;
• $3.76 million, Vocational Region 11;
• $578,001, additional local funds raised; and
• $100,000 transferred from facilities and maintenance account to school capital reserve fund and give directors authority to spend it by majority vote.
Seventy-two percent of voters in all eight towns also approved continuing with the two-part voting process for the budget 1,711 to 639.
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