SAD 4 board approves near $9.6M budget
GUILFORD — The SAD 4 Board of Directors gave its approval to a $9,574,394 budget for 2026-27 during a meeting on April 14 at Piscataquis Community Elementary School.
The directors also set the annual district budget meeting for 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 21 at PCES, with a 6:30 p.m. information session. The total approved that night will be moved to the June 9 referendum in the district communities of Abbot, Cambridge, Guilford, Parkman, Sangerville and Wellington.
The proposed budget is up by 0.87% from the current year’s $9,491,905, Superintendent Kelly MacFadyen said.
“With the increase in health insurance (3.02%) and salaries, to keep it at less than 1% is really good,” she said.
The increase to taxpayers would be up by 0.66%. The 2025-26 budget has $2,982,900 in a local required amount and $1,828,959 in local additional monies. Next year Abbot and Sangeville would see slight increases in municipal assessments and the proportional shares of the other four towns would all be down.
The $9,491,905 2025-26 budget was the fifth spending plan brought to voters after the previous four were voted down. The total was approved on the November ballot by a combined count of 773-735 across the six SAD 4 communities
LD 226 “An Act to Amend the Essential Programs and Services School Funding Formula” was passed by the legislature’s education committee with some amendments to bring forward, MacFadyen said.
The proposed changes include updating the regional adjustment: the formula for regional cost adjustments will be updated to more accurately reflect current labor market and cost of living realities;
Considering community income: a community’s ability to pay will now incorporate income levels specifically using eligibility for free and reduced-price lunch as a measure; and
Phased hold homeless period: no district will lose funding due to the changes in the bill for the first three years. Any negative financial impacts will then be phased in gradually over an additional three years.
For SAD 4, the subsidy would increase by more than $224,000 from $3,359,931 to $3,584,023. The mill rate would decrease from $5.76 to $5.677.
“For this district that is good news,” MacFadyen said about the bill.
In other business, sixth-graders will be moving across campus from PCES to Piscataquis Community Secondary School for next year to join their older peers in grades 7-12.
“After a lot, two year’s worth, of discussion and thoughtful consideration, the sixth grade will move to the middle school,” MacFadyen said.
Key considerations for the decision are that student behavior for this grade reflects early adolescent development more closely to grades 7-8 than younger elementary grades; a shift has been seen in grade 6 where student needs — particularly behavioral and social — are more aligned with middle school expectations; and current behavioral trends in grade 6 suggest a developmental alignment with middle school students, which may warrant consideration of programming, support and expectations typically associated with grades 7-8.
Sixth-graders currently compete on PCMS athletic teams.
PCSS teachers are certified for grades 6-12 so this will give more flexibility in teaching assignments. With enrollment decreasing, this could be an advantage for staff retention.
“The principals have informed their staff of the change, right now I am letting you know of the change,” MacFadyen said. A plan will be developed with parents for determining the exact building layout at the secondary school.
All the middle school students should be able to be housed in one section of PCSS.
“I think it will be better in the long run to have them in the middle school,” MacFadyen said.
When asked, she said there are 24 current sixth-graders and next year’s grade projects to be about three dozen.
“We are still working on the second part of the application for the regional high school,” the superintendent said.
SAD 4 is working with the Dexter-based SAD 46 on the application for state funding for a comprehensive high school that will combine traditional academics, career and technical education and access to college courses.
The first application in a two-part process for a new facility was turned in last fall. The second part is due in October. Two groups in Aroostook County have also applied.
The proposal includes closing the existing Dexter Regional High School, PCHS and technical center and consolidating into a regional campus to serve 28 communities. Other neighboring school districts, such as those in Dover-Foxcroft, Greenville and Milo, would still be able to send students for career and technical programs under an arrangement similar to what is currently in place at the Tri-County Technical Center.
The SAD 4 and 46 school boards would still oversee pre-K to grade 8 education in the respective districts.
Ava Goulette will be valedictorian of the Class of 2026, PCSS Principal Lee Pearsall said.
“We had a unique situation this year,” she said about the salutatorian.
Audrey Chadbourne and Arianna Crosby will share the honor. The students have grade point averages that are indistinguishable from one another.