Superintendent of Schools Heather Perry held a public forum at the Baxter library on Tuesday May 28, at the invitation of library staff. The event was intended to give members of the public an opportunity to ask questions about the system’s educational programs, support services, and finances, including the budget, although it was not directly tied to the upcoming school budget vote. Despite the event being publicized, only five people attended.
The superintendent nevertheless gave an interesting presentation about the current operations of the Gorham school district and its finances.
Perry initially pointed out some differences between the school committee and the council. She said legally, the constituents of the town council are comprised of all the people of the town, not just the voters. On the other hand, the primary constituents of the school committee are the children of the town. She said the primary mandate of the school committee is to provide students with an excellent education.
Perry pointed out that the mandate of the town council is much more varied, but they are still required to fund the school committee’s budget adequately. When the school committee submits a proposed yearly budget to the council, the council must individually approve or disapprove each proposed expenditure. They must also pay for the school budget, mostly through taxes.
Perry pointed out the recent town-wide property revaluation was mandated by state law. Once the revaluation determined that the town’s overall property value levels had increased, the state was mandated to cut the district’s state school subsidies.
Perry also pointed out how many of the school system’s expenditures are basically fixed in place. These include facilities and equipment maintenance and upgrades, energy costs, and employee health benefits.
80% of the system’s overall expenditures are staff salaries. While theoretically these could be negotiated downward, the district maintains a fairly high salary level in order to recruit and retain excellent teachers, so Perry believes salaries need to be in the median range for Cumberland County.
Many costs are related to the fact that so many students have some type of educational, medical, psychological, or behavioral special needs, and some have several. For instance, when she arrived in Gorham, over 300 students had some sort of special need which required extra expenditures by the system, and now it’s over 500.
There is a great range of special needs; some are much greater than others. The highest level includes medical needs, including those who are nonverbal, those on feeding tubes, or having other serious medical conditions. The district currently has six full-time school nurses; five are assigned to individual schools, one is a “floater”. Similarly, the district needs to have enough social workers and other support staff due to the higher level of social problems that children now face.
When major budget cuts are proposed (such as after last year’s “No” votes) Perry believes the district has to point out the few optional areas, which include items like sports, music, theater, and art. Some types of classes can be cut, such as certain technology and language classes. However, much of the general curriculum is not optional, due to to state mandates.
In a follow up email, Perry maintained that Gorham schools are not “over-staffed” with administrators.
Regarding future trends, Perry believes that overall school costs are likely to continue to rise, due to many unavoidable factors. Similarly, she thinks there will continue to be few desirable options for major cost cuts.
While the district’s student population will likely rise fairly slowly, costs-per-pupil are likely to rise at a faster rate. While state subsidies will likely continue being cut because of the district’s rising overall property values, Perry is optimistic that the district does have some options for increasing reimbursements. She is optimistic that the town’s joint fiscal responsibility committee will come up with some positive ideas and suggestions.