By Amanda Estes

Staff Writer

Nearly a week after South Portland Superintendent of Schools Suzanne Godin first presented a proposed $42.7 million 2008-09 fiscal year school budget to the school board and public – in which she proposed to cut 18.2 positions – school officials were once again faced with additional jobs on the chopping block earlier this week. 

At a Tuesday night budget workshop, the school board received memos from Godin and Athletic Director Kevin Woodhouse, outlining a prioritized list of potential cuts in staffing, athletics and co-curricular activities, in addition to the roughly $852,000 or 18.2 staffing cuts already included in the budget. As of Tuesday, school board members were deliberating about what items or positions would be included in another potential reduction of roughly $259,000 to counter the reduction in the district’s state subsidy.

School board members expected to further discuss cuts at a workshop on Wednesday night, after the Sentry’s deadline. Board Chairman Richard Carter said the board hoped to vote on the budget at its March 10 meeting. A city council public hearing has been scheduled for 7 p.m., on April 2, at city hall and a budget referendum has been tentatively scheduled for mid-April.

Godin said she received preliminary state subsidy figures Monday morning that stated the district’s state funding will likely be reduced by roughly $488,000. An additional funding cut of upwards of $500,000 could follow as a result of the state’s own budget shortfall, Godin said. 

Initially, the property tax supported portion of Godin’s budget was roughly $33.7 million, which was about $50,000 less than the projected 4.18 percent increase on need from taxes target provided by the city council. 

On Tuesday, school Business Manager Polly Ward proposed increasing the needs from taxes by roughly $50,000, which left school officials to find nearly $437,000 to cut from the budget. After examining the elementary school construction project account and other completed project accounts, however, Ward said she was able to find existing funds that could be used for several maintenance requests, totaling roughly $178,000, included in next year’s proposed budget. 

Roughly $669,000 worth of maintenance projects were approved in Godin’s initial budget, a fraction of the nearly $5.2 million worth of projects requests. Driving the cost of the approved projects is a high school foundation drainage system for roughly $448,000. 

School board member James Gilboy recommended removing the drainage project from the budget. Buildings and Grounds Director David Brochu, however, could not attend Tuesday’s meeting and school board members opted not to discuss the project in depth without his input.

“I’d hate to sink money into a building that’s not worth spending money on,” Gilboy said of his position.

When discussion turned to staffing cuts above and beyond the 18.2 positions previously identified, Godin did not inform the public of which positions are on the proposed reductions list, as she said “this is an extremely sensitive issue.” Godin’s memo included eight position cuts or reductions – a roughly $537,000 cut – which were identified by district administrators as a last resort. 

The 18.2 positions previously targeted include five elementary school educational technicians, two middle school library clerks, one business office clerk, one middle school home economics teacher, one technology integration teacher, one high school English teacher, a high school career preparation teacher, a high school learning alternatives teacher, two special education high school teachers, a bus driver and a custodian.

During a Monday night workshop, residents and school board members advocated for the elementary educational technicians and library clerks, saying the people in those positions are critical to the schools.

“I see them in the lunchroom; I see them at recess,” said Susan Adams, a Dyer Elementary School volunteer coordinator, of the educational technicians. “They know every kid in school. I would much rather see the money come from football or the marching band or whatever than see a sign on the library door that says ‘closed.’”

School board member Michael Eastman said the library is the core of the school and he “feels very strongly about the library clerks.”

“I’m not one to give that up yet without nickel and dime-ing some other accounts,” he said.

School board members expected to examine some $111,000 in reductions to the district’s athletics and co-curricular budgets at the Wednesday workshop. 

Woodhouse said he made a commitment to avoid cutting programs as he identified between $20,000 and $50,000 in potential reductions. Included in his list are 11 middle school assistant coach positions and three high school assistant coach positions. 

South Portland High School Principal Jeanne Crocker proposed cutting the debate or model United Nations team and a literary magazine, which both have low student participation rates, and the pep band because the school hasn’t paid the stipend for several years. Other proposed co-curricular cuts include the middle schools’ intramural director positions, a summer intervention leadership team stipend, as well as reduced leadership stipends.

Another factor that remains to be seen is how the proposed “redistricting” plan will affect next year’s budget. 

Currently, the district has 76 elementary classroom teachers, two English Language Learner (ELL) teachers and one ELL educational technician. Godin has said without redistricting, roughly $304,000 will need to be added to the budget for staffing. Under the current redistricting plan, the district would have 74 classroom teachers, four ELL teachers and one ELL educational technician.

The school board planned to discuss the redistricting plan further at a workshop on Thursday.