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Message from the Superintendent
It is my pleasure to welcome you to the homepage for Maine School Administrative District #51, Cumberland / North Yarmouth, Maine. Our mission is to educate all students to meet or exceed the district's defined academic standards. MSAD #51 has embarked on a journey of transformation through a systems approach of organization development. We encourage you to visit our district and share with us any of your thoughts or ideas.
Dr. Robert Hasson, Superintendent of Schools
To: Members of the MSAD 51 Community
From: Peter K. Bingham - Chairman, MSAD 51 Board of Directors
Subject: Monthly Update
Date: April 23, 2008
This is a bit late this month as I was waiting to see what the legislature was going to do regarding modifications to the school consolidation law. In the end, it took less time to hit us with more taxes on booze and soda than it did to come up with the necessary corrections to the law. However, in the final hours changes were made to allow for consolidated districts to develop their own allocation formulas for expenditures above the EPS formula. This was a key part of our consolidation plan with Falmouth. So, where do we go from here? First, there will be a televised meeting on April 29 at the Cumberland Town Hall at 7:00 P.M. where representatives from NESDEC will review the estimated cost savings from the proposed merger with the Regional
Planning Committee. This should answer several questions from the public regarding more specific detail with regard to savings. Because of the great deal of uncertainty leading up to the eventual legislative action, Falmouth has expressed concern about going forward with the approval vote on June 10, preferring to wait until November so that there is more time to present information to the public and to have a greater voter turnout. The MSAD 51 Board, Cumberland Town Council, and the North Yarmouth Board of Selectmen have all expressed a preference to keep the June 10 date. This is mainly due to the uncertainty that the delay creates within the affected administrative and staff personnel and the short time that would be involved in electing a new board and organizing a new district should the merger be approved. A final recommendation will be made by the Regional Planning Committee at the April 29 meeting.
On April 28 at 6:00 P.M. the Board will hold a televised meeting at the Cumberland Town Hall where a vote to forward the 2008-2009 budget to the May 15 District Budget Meeting will be taken. The superintendent has recommended a budget that will result in a spending increase of 4.72% over the prior year. This will represent an approximate increase of 3.9% in the operating budget and a .8% increase in debt service. The increase in operating expenses has averaged 3.86% over the prior five years. We have received the final allocation figures from the Department of Education and the assessment to the Town of Cumberland will be a $643,803 (5.92%) decrease from the prior year. The North Yarmouth assessment will be a $196,199 (4.73%) decrease from the
prior year. The Cumberland Town Council recently approved a municipal budget with a zero increase in expenses. Due to the revaluation in Cumberland, the tax exact impact will vary by taxpayer. My understanding is that the new valuations and estimated tax rate will be available by the end of the month. North Yarmouth is in the process of finalizing its municipal budget and once complete, we should have an idea of what their new tax rate will be. The detailed budget will be available both on the District website and the 51 Forum publication. The annual district budget meeting will be held at Greely High School at 7:00 P.M. on Thursday evening May 15. Hopefully many of you can attend. As part of the new consolidation law, a Budget Validation Referendum will be held on Tuesday, May 20, to approve or disapprove the budget acted upon at the District Budget meeting. This will be a strict yes or no vote. More details on this at a later
date.
Other news includes, the Greely High School renovation project continues ahead of schedule and under budget, the board recently ratified a three year contract with the custodians, and the results from the surveys are still being reviewed and will be released next month. The Board is in the process of reviewing several policies including allowing non-voting student representatives to the Board. These will be discussed at our televised
May 5 meeting at the Cumberland Town Hall.
Not much else to report - enjoy this nice run of spring weather.
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