PARIS — Even after making cuts to special education, staffing, information technology, facilities and merging two underutilized elementary schools, Maine School Administrative District 17’s next budget is projected to increase 7.9% over the current fiscal year.

SAD 17’s school board approved the budget during its Monday night business meeting. A meeting will be held at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School May 20 at 6 p.m. for public comment and validation, with a districtwide referendum to follow during state elections on June 10.

Increased operational costs, factored with a loss of $1.04 million in Maine Department of Education funding, resulted in a potential 14% spending increase.

According to DOE calculations, property valuations for the Oxford Hills region have increased by $433 million.

“It means the state believes we have the ability to raise more money from taxes,” explained Superintendent Heather Manchester. “They’ve shifted more cost to the locals, about $934,000. And we have a slightly lower enrollment,” resulting in another decrease from the state of about $111,000.

Negotiated salaries for SAD 17’s 600 employees will increase by $2 million next year. Health insurance costs are jumping by 12.4%, and SAD 17 is required to allocate another $100,000 toward paid family leave funding.

“It’s been a big priority for the board to pay competitive wages,” Manchester said. “This has been a negotiations year with teachers, our biggest bargaining unit with over 300 employees.”

School bus drivers have also received 18% wage increases. The budget includes acquiring three new school buses at $135 each – two of which will be reimbursed by the state in two years.

The overall facilities budget increase is $700,000, due in part to rising utility expenses. The district has set a three year plan to replace windows in all its school buildings, starting with those in the poorest condition.

“The facilities (department budget) also includes funds for building security,” Manchester continued. “We will continue to improve access control, security cameras and emergency communications, and update life safety systems, like fire panels.”

Special education is set to increase $1.5 million, even after cutting $200,000 by reducing out-of-district student placements, eliminating an unfilled day treatment position at Oxford Hills Middle School, an unfilled special ed resource position at Oxford Elementary School and reallocating an autism educator position.

“We think having an autism teacher is really important,” Manchester told school board directors. “We have a large number of students with autism and having an autism teacher will help provide a better service to those students.”

SAD 17 will save $1.14 million by cutting 15 positions: 12.5 teacher, 1 nurse and 1.5 secretary. Manchester told the board the goal is to achieve employee reductions through attrition, avoiding layoffs.

Uniting students living in Waterford and Harrison into Harrison Elementary School will result in a $200,000 reduction in facilities expenses and $198,000 in staffing. This year, the preK-second grade student population at Waterford Elementary School was 76 and the third-sixth grade student enrollment at HES was 108.

Cutting back on new equipment brought $60,000 in savings to the athletics budget, and the system administration budget was reduced by $139,000 by cutting back on staff hours, cabling replacement at the high school, and through savings on lower than projected contract bids.

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