Results of District Budget Meeting

Post date: Jun 08, 2012 8:16:59 PM

At last night's annual district budget meeting, 55 voters approved a 2012-13 school budget of $6,552,480. This amount was $147,000 more than the amount recommended by the school committee. Supporters of the additional funds requested that the money be used to employ a second, 5th grade teacher, to fund the middle level reading teacher position that had been cut, to restore a .3 cut in the gifted/talented position and to put the half time high school librarian position back in the budget.

The school budget approved last night will go to referendum next Tuesday, June 12. Due to statewide primary elections, polls will be open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at both the Deer Isle and Stonington Town Offices. Absentee ballots are available during town office hours today, Monday and Tuesday until the polls close.

If the budget referendum passes, the Deer Isle-Stonington School Committee will hold a special meeting on Thursday, June 14 at the elementary school to certify the results of the referendum and approve the tax assessments for both towns. Discussion on the use of the additional funds may begin at the June 14 meeting or at the July 2nd regular board meeting. Don't forget that the July school board meeting will be held on Monday, July 2 rather than the usual first Tuesday of the month.

If the budget is voted down, the school committee's agenda for the June 14 meeting will include starting the budget process over. The school committee will need to decide the total budget amount to recommend to the voters, approve a warrant for a second district budget meeting, and approve warrants for another budget validation referendum. By law absentee ballots must be available at least 30 days before an election, which would put the budget meeting in the second week of July and the referendum in the third week of July.

Please take a few minutes of your time next Tuesday to vote.

On a completely unrelated note, Ginny Olsen has resigned her position on the school committee. Thank you to Ginny for serving on the board for the past fifteen months. Because Ginny is a Stonington resident, the Stonington Selectmen will appoint a replacement to serve until the next election in March of 2013.  If you are interested in serving on the school committee you should contact the Stonington Town Office.

The DISHS Commencement Ceremony is this Sunday, June 10 at 1:00 p.m. Let's all hope for a cool, sunny afternoon.

Have a great weekend.

Superintendent Bob Webster