On April 23 Gorham’s Town Council and School Committee held their scheduled workshop in which the $53.5 million school budget proposal for Fiscal Year 25 was presented and discussed. Superintendent Perry provided a detailed presentation that gave historical data, and explained state funding allocation factors, local and grant funding, additional revenue streams, and cuts that have been made to bring in a budget below the targeted 7% annual increase.

The tone was collaborative as all six councilors present posed many thoughtful questions throughout and after the presentation, all of which can be viewed on Gocat.org. Councilor Gagnon was absent from this workshop and the municipal budget workshop on April 13.

Superintendent Perry noted that there were two goals of the school committee during the budgeting process. The first was to retain staff and programming to meet growing needs and maintain quality of service that is expected of the school system by the community, while the second goal was to ensure that facilities needs were addressed to provide safe and productive learning environments. School Committee Chair Sarah Perkins explained to the group that historically the school committee would engage in discussion about increasing opportunities or programs for students, but for the past few years, the focus has been on maintaining only what is required or necessary.

Gorham continues to have the second lowest per pupil spending in Cumberland County. The state pays approximately 40% of those costs. Vice Chair McAllister noted that for salaries and other costs, the district shoots to be in the middle of the county average. The state’s school funding formula is based on the state’s determination of local property values, the higher the property values, the more the state funding formula assumes a community’s ability to pay for the school budget.

Superintendent Perry also noted that Gorham lost over $400,000 in state subsidy due to the drop in number of school families filling out the forms for free and reduced lunch. Although school lunch is now free to all students due to changes in state and federal child nutrition laws, the information collected on the federal forms is still used by Maine Dept. of Education to determine local low income data. School districts with greater economic need receive additional funding in the state’s allocation. Previously Gorham had 17.69% of families eligible for free or reduced meals, this year that number was 8.79%, despite the effort of the school district to get the forms filled out by families. Councilor Pratt asked if this can be remedied in future years if families fill out the forms, and Superintendent Perry confirmed that we cannot recoup for 2024 but can work for more accurate data via the forms in subsequent years.

Gorham Town Manager Ephrem Paraschak shared his hope that the newly formed Economic Sustainability Committee might help with long term financial planning that examines property values and the impacts on both school and municipal funding. He noted that larger communities have been developing robust and sustainable financial strategies to great advantage over the years.

All town councilors indicated their support of the budget as presented during the discussion, as well as their appreciation for the work of the school committee. The Town Council will hold a public hearing and officially vote on the budget on May 14.