The Gorham School Committee has been meeting to systematically review and complete the proposed 2025-2026 school budget for the last few months. School staff and administrators reviewed their programs and drafted a preliminary budget before meeting with the superintendent and committee who assessed and prioritized them.
Going line by line, the committee has been trying to reduce the budget as much as possible without seriously impacting programs and students. The budget must be approved by the school committee on April 9, delivered to the town on April 16 and discussed in a budget workshop with the town council on April 29. These actions lead to a May 13 public hearing and town council vote and finally, a public referendum on June 10.
In November, the school committee had approved three budget priorities and accompanying actions. The priorities were to continue to attract and maintain a high-quality workforce, to ensure our facilities’ needs are met to provide safe and engaging working environments for our students and staff, and to attract and retain a sustainable transportation workforce to support the needs of our growing district.
The initial budget presented to the committee showed an 8.14% increase which they have been trying to reduce to 6.5% with an anticipated mil impact of .30. If the school committee is able to meet the .30 impact on the mil, it would be the lowest increase in taxes from the schools in the past six fiscal years. The estimated impact on a home valued at $400,000.00 would be an increase of $120.00.
Heather Perry, superintendent of schools, explained the challenges to the proposed budget. “It is important to remember that 80% of our budget is staffing, so the biggest factors are retaining our existing staff. Our “status QUO” budget (everything that we did in FY 25 and bringing it forward with adjusted contract numbers) is estimated to be an increase of around $2.6 Million. After that, the biggest cost drivers of the current budget proposal are the new 1% contribution for paid family leave ($300,000.00 increase), paying the interest on our bond approved in November ($320,000.00), anticipated transportation increases (almost $300,000.00), as well as increases in special education (about $200,000.00.) There is also a significant increase in our PK-5 technology lines due to replacement of aging iPads and chrome books at those levels.”
Perry continued: “Although the challenges of meeting the increasing needs of our students and those associated costs have not been reduced, the past few years of focus on expanding revenue streams for the schools, as well as the increased collaboration with the town, have greatly improved our FY 26 budget development process, the results of which I believe the taxpayers of Gorham will be pleased.”