| Joanne Cole |
By narrow margins, New Gloucester and Gray voters passed in full the school board’s proposed $35 million FY26 budget on Thursday evening at a sometimes testy budget validation town meeting in the High School cafetorium.
The first vote, a proposed $13,895,084 for Regular Instruction, proved an early indicator of the evening ahead. An attempt to reduce the amount to the 2024-25 figure—some $557,000 less than the board was recommending—was rejected by only 11 votes, 86-75. The full amount was subsequently approved, also by 11 votes.
The second article, Special Education with a proposed $7,401,978 budget, took longer but fared similarly. A reduction of some $527,000 was proposed but defeated 85 to 68, this time on a written ballot. A more modest reduction was then proposed, to $7,100,000. It also failed, 77 to 70 in the evening’s tightest vote. The board’s full recommended amount then passed, 89-62.
And so it went through the evening, with hand counts needed on numerous votes too close for moderator Bill Stockmeyer to call from the podium. Election clerks would then circulate through the room, tallying votes with clickers and cross-checking each other’s results. Only well into the meeting’s third hour did results grow so lopsided that Stockmeyer could determine the outcome at a glance, declare it, and move on.
In the end, all 18 warrant articles passed as presented by the board.
Board Chair Penny Collins later commented, “I’m really glad we have a supported budget,” and she expressed appreciation for one of the best turnouts in years. In fact, the meeting’s 6:30 start time came and went with voters still checking in and staff adding more chairs.
“It’s asking a lot, for people to come spend three hours to hammer out the budget,” Collins said, especially in a week filled with events, sports in full swing and other activities. She was particularly heartened to see GNGHS seniors participating in the meeting, she said.
While 150 to 160 voters is a strong turnout for a validation meeting, Collins said, she’d love to see more, given “the thousands of voters in the towns.” She hopes residents will come out for the referendum vote on June 10 and weigh in.
That June 10 vote is the up or down vote on the $35 million budget figure just approved. It will be a ballot item, along with elections for Select Board and School Board seats. If the budget passes on June 10, the board can get right to work for the school year ahead, Collins said.
At this meeting, speaker sentiment started split and stayed split, with several spending questions prompting impassioned comments for and against. New Gloucester resident Laura Peterson likely spoke for many budget supporters. Peterson said that although the proposed budget doesn’t include everything she would like to see—funding for the American Sign Language program was a specific—the board “has gone over this for months, line by line” and given voters detailed information.
“These are the folks we elected to go through this process and know it well,” Peterson said, “and this is what they’re presenting to us.”
A comment from Judy Simoneau of Gray appeared to reflect the view of those seeking to reduce several of the budget amounts. She argued that the District is “overbudgeting,” in effect, asking for more than it needs. “We’re budgeting year over year extra,” Simoneau said, referring to some $2 million from last year and the District’s fund balances.
Earlier, in an overview presentation, Superintendent Chanda Turner had described the District’s three types of fund balance. “Two of those categories we can’t touch for any purposes other than what they are intended for,” she said of the “assigned” and the “committed” fund balances.
The third, the unassigned fund balance, can be used for general purposes, Turner said. It serves as the District’s operating funds and would, for example, enable the District to meet its $800,000 monthly payroll in the event of a significant disruption in revenues from the towns or the state, she said.
The District’s unassigned fund balance as of June 30, 2024, was $2.3 million, Turner said, in line with a five percent figure districts are allowed to hold as unassigned balance under Maine law. (By comparison, New Gloucester has held $4 million in its equivalent undesignated fund balance in recent years, with budget obligations less than half those of MSAD 15.)
Board members addressed similar voter comments about “extra” funding – for Special Education, for example, as this year’s amount has not been fully spent. Chair Penny Collins said there’s no surplus ‘built in’ the budget nor is one predicted with two months left in the fiscal year and expenses continuing.
Speakers also suggested that the Special Education budget could be reduced by $527,000 without affecting staff or students. Board member Sam Pfeifle responded that the Special Education budget is built on “which teachers and special education resources do we need to meet the needs of IEP students in our district.” Pfeifle said, “If we lower it by five hundred thousand, we would have to remove five hundred thousand dollars’ worth of educators from our budget.”
Overall, debate was earnest and respectful – although a side conversation between residents at the back of the room, audible across several rows, passed from ‘spirited’ to ‘concerning’ to a different category altogether. Perhaps not coincidentally, two uniformed Cumberland County deputies soon appeared—and stayed visible down front for the rest of the meeting.
The meeting opened with an overview presentation by Superintendent Chanda Turner of the budget process, budget components and rationales. It touched on reductions in teacher and ed tech positions, an increase in anticipated state support, estimated tax impacts and more.
The budget—as now approved—represents a 5.99 percent increase over the current year, a result of rising health insurance and property insurance costs, negotiated pay/step increases, voter-approved air quality improvements and other needs, Turner said. Relative to neighboring districts, MSAD 15’s FY26 increase is low, Turner’s report showed, as is the District’s per pupil cost.
Although Turner focused on the budget process and financial details, she began with the District’s goals, strategic vision and mission, which she described as “the foundation on which we have built this budget.” She also shared data on student achievement and challenges that she said shaped specific budget decisions. Residents can view Turner’s Budget Validation Overview presentation at this link. Extensive additional information can be found at the District’s Budget page: msad15.org/school-board/budget/
The conversation and votes at the May 22 validation meeting represented a significant step for the FY26 school budget, but not a final one. Next comes the referendum vote on Tuesday, June 10, at the New Gloucester Fire Station and at Newbegin Gym in Gray.
