RSU 68 officials working on 2025-26 budget
DOVER-FOXCROFT – A week into the new year, RSU 68 officials are working on developing the budget for the 2025-26 academic year.
“The budget work is beginning in earnest,” Superintendent Stacy Shorey said during a school board meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 7 at the SeDoMoCha School. She said administrators have compiled numbers, such as salaries, to be submitted for consideration.
“I think we’re in really good shape,” the superintendent said. “We’re hearing the (ED) 279’s will be coming out the end of the month,” Shorey said about the subsidy reports given to school districts from the Maine Department of Education.
She said the finance committee is scheduled to have its first meeting on Jan. 28.
In years past the finance committee has worked to bring a proposed budget to the full school board at its April meeting, with a vote by the directors coming in May. Later that month would be the annual district budget meeting, with the total spending plan approved then moved to a referendum in June for final approval.
Via a combined count of 941-313 across Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson, and Sebec at the June referendum, RSU 68 residents approved a 2024-25 budget totaling $14,238,768. This $14.2 million figure was up by $855,004 or 6.5 percent from the 2023-24 total of $13,383,764.
The $14.2 million was made up of $7,878,889 from the state — a $427,406 increase — and $6,359,879 in various local revenue sources. This included a $4,033,235 local contribution and another $717,481 in local additional monies (those above what the state requires and approved via a specific warrant article). The local contribution was up by $79,640 while the local additional amount was $70,000 more.
Shorey also gave an update on a grant from the MDOE’s Revolving Renovation Fund. “It looks like we’ll hear officially at the end of the month,” she said about the status of the RSU 68 program application.
Following a pair of straw polls by the school board at the October meeting, Shorey was given the go ahead to pursue a grant application for an HVAC system upgrade at the SeDoMoCha School and elevator installation at the superintendent’s office building at 572 Bangor Road. The projects could be covered in large part through the Revolving Renovation Fund.
According to the minutes of the Oct. 1 meeting, Shorey had tentative quotes for the HVAC system ranging between $750,000 and $1 million. The elevator looks to be around $188,000.
Based on the amount of state funding RSU 68 receives, the state could cover 67 percent of costs and the district would pay back the other 33 percent. “However, that amount is interest-free for 10 years,” Shorey said during the September board meeting, with RSU 68 having until 2026 to start expending any awarded monies.
She said the MDOE could take 16 percent off the awarded funds as it does not consider the superintendent’s office to be as child-centered as a school building. Shorey said this estimate was at first 30-35 percent but after discussions she got the projected reduction cut in half.
A vote by the public to accept Revolving Renovation Fund monies could be part of the school budget referendum in Charleston, Dover-Foxcroft, Monson, and Sebec in June.
Neighboring SAD 41 of Milo used the Revolving Renovation Fund program several years ago for air system upgrades at Milo and Brownville elementary schools. The $935,000 project had a $670,000/$280,000 split with SAD 41 paying back $28,000 annually over a decade. In 2017 SAD 41 residents approved an approximate $474,000 Revolving Renovation Fund loan for a sprinkler system and elevator at the Penquis Valley School.
In other business, SeDoMoCha School Principal Cameron Archer said staff worked with the Kiwanis Club of Dover-Foxcroft to provide 50 school families with holiday meals. More than 100 families received Christmas presents through the Kiwanis and staff.
Archer said both Eagle A basketball teams have finished the regular season with the boys ending with a record of 8-2 and the girls going 10-0. Both squads are set to host Penquis League semifinals next week.
He said the middle school cheer team will be taking part in the Stephanie Tardiff Memorial Cheer Competition on Saturday, Jan. 11 at Brewer High School. The Penquis League championship will be held at the Ridge View Community School in Dexter at the end of the month.
The Eagle cheer squad is also set to perform at halftime at the second annual student vs. staff basketball game after school on Friday, Jan. 24.
“We were saddened to hear of the passing of David Mallett,” Foxcroft Academy Head of School Arnold Shorey said in his board report about the Maine singer-songwriter. “He was a great role model for all of us to follow your passion and his passion was music.”
Shorey said the 1969 Foxcroft Academy graduate was part of the inaugural class in the school’s academic hall of fame in 2012.
The head of school said he will miss Jack Clukey as Dover-Foxcroft town manager, but Clukey will remain as a Foxcroft Academy trustee.
Last month Shorey was among the speakers as Clukey was presented with the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council’s Myrick Award, recognizing his two decades as town manager.
Shorey said a pair of Foxcroft Academy students were among a trio of teenage boys who helped the homeowners escape a fire at their Atkinson residence during the early morning hours of New Year’s Day.
“What a great example of courage and doing the right thing in the moment,” he said.