SAD 4 board sets 2023-24 assessments

GUILFORD — A day after voters across the six SAD 4 communities approved an $8,473,000 budget for the 2023-24 academic year, the school board set the respective half dozen assessments during a meeting at Piscataquis Community Elementary School on June 14.

The total SAD 4 budget is up by about 9 percent or $700,880 from the current year’s figure of $7,772,120. The spending plan includes a combined $4,492,377 local assessment between the six towns. This is made up of local required and local additional monies along with SAD 4’s proportional share of the Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative budget and is $748,613 more than the local assessment of $3.7 million-plus for 2022-23.

The $4,492,377 being asked of the six SAD 4 communities is comprised of $2,935,299 in local required monies, $1,507,363 in local additional monies, and the district’s $49,715 for the PVAEC.

Each community has a proportional local required figure, additional local amount, and its costs for the PVAEC. All district six towns would see an increased assessment. Town valuations have all gone up by about 4 to 6 percent, close to or at the state average increase of 6 percent, and this means all communities would need to contribute more to the cost of student education.

Abbot would have a $147,753 (20.37 percent) increase in its assessment to $873,190; Cambridge’s $306,735 share of the SAD 4 budget is up $62,674 (25.68 percent); Guilford’s share is $1,246,766, up by $173,130 (16.13 percent); Parkman would have a $143,421 (19.69 percent) increase to $871,910; Sangerville’s $946,547 share is up $180,832 (23.62 percent); and Wellington’s $247,227 assessment represents a $40,800 (19.76 percent) increase from 2022-23.

On June 13 the budget was approved by a combined 113-96 vote. Town breakdowns include 10-8 in Cambridge, 38-13 in Guilford, 14-10 in Parkman, 26-7 in Sangerville, and 7-7 in Wellington. In Abbot “no” voters outnumbered those marking “yes” 51-18.

Board Chairperson Niki Fortier wondered where the 96 “no” voters were at the time of the annual district budget meeting prior, which had about 25 total attendees including school board members. Fortier asked her fellow directors to encourage residents to attend the session and/or ask questions about the school budget prior to the referendum.

“We just need to be more active and get people to ask questions and make sure they’re comfortable one way or another,” she said.

Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen said the town of Abbot has a high valuation, thus the community has high taxes compared to some of the other SAD 4 communities. She said some of the “no” voters in Abbot may have thought it was the school district directly setting the tax rate, with valuation being calculated instead by the state.

In other business, the school board approved a collaborative agreement for a pre-K program with RSU 68 of Dover-Foxcroft, the Milo-based SAD 41, SAD 46 of Dexter, and Child Development Services. 

RSU 68 Superintendent Stacy Shorey led an effort to apply for and receive a $166,000 grant to expand pre-K offerings. Four classrooms, a teacher, two ed techs, and two therapists for the program at the new RSU 68 superintendent’s office at 572 Bangor Road in Dover-Foxcroft. 

MacFadyen compared the collaboration to those of the PVAEC and Tri-County Technical Center in Dexter. “Instead of four small school districts trying to provide these services it made sense to share the costs,” she said, with services including speech, behavior, and occupational therapy.

Twenty-plus students would attend, with SAD 4 having five slots for the approximate 4-year-olds who would benefit from the program. SAD 4 would pay about $2,600 and get $33,600-plus in additional state subsidy for having the additional students enrolled.

The superintendent said earlier in the day she and others from the district met with Haley Ward and Thayer representatives to discuss what is left to complete to wrap up an HVAC project at PCES, which should be completed by early August. 

She said at Piscataquis Community Secondary School a near $110,000 LED light replacement project and heat pump installation will begin the following week.

PCSS Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Andrew Shorey reported that the high school softball team has been selected to receive a regional Class C sportsmanship award and these Pirates are set to be honored during the upcoming weekend’s state championship games in Brewer.

Shorey said this spring 71 high school students played a sport and there were 47 grade 7-8 athletes. He said in the fall high school girls soccer will be shifting to the 8-player division, which will include a smaller playing field for the game with three less players per team on the pitch.

MacFadyen said Transportation/Grounds Director Nick Chambers will serve as the assistant athletic director in 2023-24 — a stipend position. She said that Shorey recently completed his first year in SAD 4, and seeing the demands of the position a need was assessed for an assistant AD.