By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
Cape Elizabeth School Superintendent Alan Hawkins has approximately $19.9 million at his fingertips – for now. Hawkins said he is hesitant to spend a dime of the funds until taxpayers make their final decision on just how much funding should be allocated for the upcoming school year.
“We have a totally frozen budget at this point,” he said. “We are very limited in what we are committing at this time.”
Hawkins is currently approved to spend $19.9 million – a 6 percent increase from last years budget – due to the new state school consolidation law which allows administrators to operate within the last proposed budget to be approved by their governing municipality until final numbers are approved by taxpayers in a public referendum. The Cape Elizabeth Town Council approved the 6 percent budget June 26 in a 5 to 2 vote with Councilors James Rowe and Paul McKenney in the minority.
The proposed 6 percent budget failed June 22 by 44 votes in the second school budget validation referendum the town has had; on June 10 more than 1,600 residents said they found a proposed $19.7 million – a 4.6 percent increase from last year – school budget to be too low, and the referendum failed in a 1,891 to 1,250 vote.
“This never would have occurred if the [6 percent budget referendum] had taken place during the school year,” David Hillman, a member of the town’s Citizen Advocates for Public Education organization, said.
Now Hawkins and school board members have approved recommending the town council send a 5.3 percent increased budget – exactly halfway between 4.6 and 6 percent – to a third public referendum in a 5 to 1 vote, with school board member Peter Cotter in the minority, even though it includes “some of the hardest cuts” Hawkins said he’s had to consider.
“I looked at areas we could delete or that needed some aligning,” he said. “I know people want to do some battling over this, but I need to run a school system here.”
Reducing the increase from 6 to 5.3 percent will eliminate more than $131,500 from the school budget. Hawkins said to keep from reducing any teaching positions or lowering wages, he recommended eliminating the middle school’s programs at Camp Kieve, which typically cost more than $3,000, the equivalent of half a technology technician and a full-time psychologist, a combined savings of nearly $71,000, and the school’s curriculum director, a savings of more than $82,600.
   “We are going backward,” School Board Vice Chair Patricia Brigham said. “I am really nervous about this budget. This is not the way to do a budget, the way to do it is the way we’ve done it [before].”
Hawkins said the revised budget still includes three new positions, including the new athletic director and a school nurse. The budget also increases energy costs by $25,000, he said.
“We are extremely nervous about energy costs,” Hawkins said. “Things are going to be different, no question.”
The school board unanimously agreed to recommend the town council allow residents the rest of the summer to get comfortable with the new number, and dictated Sept 2 as an appropriate date for the next referendum. Per the school consolidation law, a referendum must take place no longer than 14 days after the town council approves a budget, making August 20 the earliest date the council could approve the new 5.3 percent proposed budget.