Cumberland and North Yarmouth voters approved a shared $56.7 million school budget on Thursday, advancing the spending plan to a budget validation referendum in June.
The budget, first proposed in March, was initially pitched at $57.9 million. Following input from the community, the Maine School Administrative District 51’s board of directors and staff trimmed it. The board cut items including new classroom furniture, bus monitors, funding for a joint enrollment study and special education equipment to meet this 2.1% decrease.
Kim Vine, vice chair of the school board and chair of the finance committee, thanked the community for the input the board had received about the budget over the past two months.
“Your input challenged us to ask better questions,” said Vine.
“Heads butted at times, but the mission from the majority of the people who were coming is something that I also really respect, and that is to include the burdens of all taxpayers in the decision making,” she said.
The $56.7 million budget is 5.46% higher than the current spending plan.
At the district budget meeting on May 7 at the Greely Center for the Arts, some residents said this budget is still too high and that if it was not reduced further, it would be voted down at the polls in June. Last June, North Yarmouth voted against the school budget, but it ultimately passed as Cumberland voters approved it.
A group representing concerned taxpayers in Cumberland and North Yarmouth proposed several amendments aimed at reducing spending. The 114 voters in the auditorium ultimately rejected all the proposed amendments by a show of hands.
Voters approved all of the 17 proposed articles. Residents from both towns will have the chance to vote on the overall budget again at the polls on June 9.