By Dan Aceto

Staff Writer

Scarborough schools face a loss of 23 positions, and an increase in activity fees if this year’s proposed $35,284,777 budget is passed.

Residents and School Board members will have a chance to comment on the issue at a public hearing scheduled for 7 p.m. next Thursday at town hall.

Superintendent Jo Anne Sizemore said the proposal includes a speanding increase of .6 percent from the fiscal year 2011 budget of $35,084,868 to compensate for a loss of revenue from state, federal and other sources. The proposal would eliminate 14 full-time positions across the district in an effort to reduce operating expenses by $1.3 million.
“This was not an easy task,” Sizemore said.

Among those positions cut would be four full-time teachers, a part-time substance abuse counselor and video production teacher at the high school.

Cuts at the middle school would include a full-time foreign language teacher, physical education teacher and homeroom teacher, as well as a part-time building educational technician. 

Wentworth Intermediate School would lose a homeroom teacher in addition to its only foreign language teacher.

Kindergarten through second grade would lose three classroom teachers, a part-time art teacher, an academic support staff and guidance counselor. 

Three custodial positions and three maintenance workers also would be cut throughout the district. Sizemore said no administrative cuts would be made.

“Our administrative staffing is currently very lean across the district and in comparison with other districts; any further cuts would compromise the effectiveness of district leadership and quality of educational practices,” Sizemore said.

The reduction in staff would increase class sizes across the district: Kindergarten through second grade could have 18 to 22 students per class; grades three to five could have 22 to 24 students per class; grades six to eight could have 22 to 25 students per class; and grades nine through 12 could have 18 to 25 students per class. 

Monique Culbertson, director of curriculum and assessment, said class sizes vary now: Kindergarten through second grade have 14 to 21 students per class; grades three to five have 20 to 24 students per class; grades six to eight have 21 to 25 students per class; and grades nine through 12 could have anywhere from 5 to 27 students per class. 

She said state law allows a maximum student-teacher ratio of 20:1 at the kindergarten level; 25:1 in grades one through eight; and 30:1 in grades nine to 12.

Kate Bolton, director of business operations, said both teachers and administrators receive annual contractual increase in salaries and without cutting any positions those increases would have totaled $781,000. 

She said school administrative positions, which include principals, assistant principals and the athletic director, will receive a collective 4 percent increase in pay for cost-of-living adjustments as part of a group contract. She said their work year has increased five days and the school department’s contribution to health insurance has been reduced by 5 percent. 

She said salaries of the district’s approximately 265 teacher would increase from 2.5 to 7 percent for cost-of-living adjustments between the current year and fiscal year 2012. She said individual salaries are based on teaching experience, with average increases of around 5 percent.

The budget proposal would add two positions, a Webmaster and technology applications specialist who would manage online content and deal with technology issues and a part-time activity and athletics accounts receivable clerk who would process activity fees.

Lastly, there could be an increase of $25 to participate in school sports, clubs and activities throughout the district, including a fee for the first time at Wentworth Intermediate School.

Sizemore said she would have had to ask the town for an additional $2.1 million in funding to support existing programs and personnel throughout the school district, a decision she said is not fiscally responsible.

“Some of these decisions we’re making are because of hard economic times,” Sizemore said. “When things get better with the economy we can come back with some of these programs. This was a difficult decision but I knew we couldn’t go out to the taxpayers and ask for that kind of increase.”

Sizemore said 75 percent of operating expenditures go to salaries and benefits. During the last five years the school department has lost an approximately 26.5 percent in state funding, due to the economy she said.

The school department expects to lose $958,145 in 2012, a 16.9 percent reduction from last year, and an additional $208,664 in other non-property tax revenue from the town, Sizemore said. She said the school board would request an additional $780,041 from the town to make up for lost revenue.

Board member Robert Mitchell said although cutting staff is never an easy process, the reductions were well thought out and said the .6 percent increase in spending from last year’s budget is very small.

“It’s still obviously a big impact, but this is a very good starting position and I’d like to hear feedback from the public,” Mitchell said.

Abby Van Note, a senior at Scarborough High School and representative to the School Board, said she is concerned for the foreign language department at Wentworth Intermediate School. Van Note visited with students at the school who are learning to speak Chinese and said many wish they could take the class year round. 

“This is a very important skill and I think we need to look at this program not being removed,” Van Note said.

Scarborough resident Jeff Porter also was concerned about the loss of the foreign language department.

“It’s too late at the high school to learn a language,” Porter said.

Porter said he also worried cuts in the arts and increases in class size in kindergarten through second-grade.

 “We’re asking our teachers to do a lot. It gets harder and harder when the class size creeps up,” Porter said.

He said his daughter has had three different music teachers and two different art teachers and questioned the loss of the guidance counselor at the elementary school level as well, which would add responsibility to the principal.

School Board member Jackie Perry said she did not favor increasing activity fees. She said that while some parents can afford the fees, the cost can be burdensome for others.

“It’s a tax on parents who have children that participate,” Perry said. 

Van Note said fees have discouraged participation in some co-curricular activities and that she has noticed a decline in clubs at the high school that don’t have fees because students assume they will have to pay to join. 

Fees implemented last year are $100 per sport at the high school level and $50 per club. At the middle school, the fee is $75 per sport and $25 per club. 

Adam Cohen, a junior at Scarborough High School and representative to the School Board, said the town should do its best to allow everyone to join.

“We need to let them know we are willing to help and not cutting them out,” Cohen said.

Mitchell said the town strives to provide after-school programs that enrich the overall educational experience and that those services ultimately cost money.

“Any cost is a tax to somebody,” Mitchell said.

Staff Writer Dan Aceto can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 237.