Proposed $11.9M SAD 41 school budget heads to June vote
MILO — A proposed budget of nearly $12 million for the Milo-area school district next year will go before voters in June for final approval.
The 2025-26 SAD 41 budget of $11,907,487 was approved during the annual district budget meeting in the Penquis Valley School cafeteria on Monday night. This figure will now go to a referendum vote in the district communities of Brownville, LaGrange and Milo on Tuesday, June 10.
The proposal is a 5.95 percent increase, or $668,330, from the current $11,239,156 budget. The 17 articles of the budget were all approved as written, with around 80 voters in attendance.
In 2025-26, SAD 41 will receive just under $7,317,000 in Essential Programs and Services state funds, a decrease of $858.
In order to receive these funds, district communities must raise $1,363,756, which is $24,530 more than the previous school year. The school district will also ask communities for $1,861,786 in local additional funds — a $759,446 increase. The request for $1.86 million in local additional monies passed 56-19.
That brings the local contribution for the proposed budget to $3,272,356, including SAD 41’s $46,813 proportional share of the Piscataquis County Adult Education Cooperative budget, which is spread across four school districts. This increase is due to several factors, including the district’s withdrawal from AOS 403, a lack of a fund balance to carry over, and that the three communities in the district have each seen an increase in valuation, according to SAD 41 Business Manager Heidi Sisco.
The $3.27 million in total location contributions is divided proportionally between Milo (48.04 percent), Brownville (33.98 percent) and LaGrange (17.98 percent).
The three town shares are $1,111,927 for Brownville, a $273,953 (32.69 percent) increase; LaGrange would see a $126,827 (27.48 percent) increase to $588,409; and for Milo a $1,572,019 portion of the 2026 SAD 41 budget is up by $385,913 or 32.54 percent.
The Marion C. Cook School in LaGrange, the former site of the AOS 43 central office, will be converted into a pre-K program for 3- to 5-year olds. State law requires all school districts to offer pre-K by September 2027, including those with special needs.
SAD 41 has been approved to be part of a state pilot program for the pre-K program and the initiative will be fully funded by a grant for the first two years, Superintendent Darcie Fournier said.
Fournier said she was unsure of the program’s costs beyond 2029.
SAD 41 currently has 22 pre-K students, Fournier said. The 60-year-old Milo Elementary building does not have the capacity for more students or additional programs, which is why the program is moving.
The superintendent’s office will move to the Penquis Valley complex, and will be located at the current site of the life skills space.
Residents had indicated they wanted the superintendent’s office to be located in one of the three school buildings, Board Chair MaryLynn Kazyaka said.
The superintendent’s office was previously located in its own building on the Penquis Valley campus at the corner of Penquis Drive and West Main Street.