SAD 4 board approves $9.75M 2026 budget

GUILFORD — The SAD 4 School Board approved a proposed $9,752,463 budget for the 2025-26 academic year during an April 8 meeting at Piscataquis Community Elementary School. The approximate $9.75 million figure is up by just over $505,000 (5.46 percent) from $9,247,391 in 2024-25.

SAD 4 is set to receive a projected $3.7 million-plus from the state for 2025-26, a figure that is more than the $3.4 million for the current school year.

The budget includes a combined local assessment of $5,167,061 for the six SAD 4 communities of Abbot, Cambridge, Guilford, Parkman, Sangerville and Wellington. This figure represents a near $242,500 increase. Each community has a proportional local required figure, additional local amount and its costs for the Piscataquis Valley Adult Education Cooperative.

The directors scheduled the annual district budget meeting for Wednesday, May 28. In years past this has been held at PCES at 7 p.m. with a 6:30 p.m. information session beforehand. The total budget approved that evening will be moved to a referendum vote in the six SAD 4 towns on Tuesday, June 10.