Augusta, Maine, School Board Approves Leasing Student Computers

Board members agreed Wednesday in an informal straw poll to lease-purchase laptops or other technology to replace aging machines used by students now, rather than purchase them outright.

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(Tribune News Service) -- School board members, following a public hearing on the proposed $28.6 million budget which drew comment from only a single resident, agreed to lease-purchase technology for students Wednesday to close the remaining $331,000 gap between expenses and revenue.

The budget is expected to go to the board March 25 for a vote. Then it will go to city councilors for them to consider as part of the overall school and city budget.

Only one resident, Les Wilkinson, commented on the budget, though he spoke at length, praising board members for taking on what he said is an impossible job of coming up with a budget without knowing how much revenue is coming from the state and then having to "beg" the City Council for funding, and encouraging them to work together to advocate for more funding to educate children.

"Who's getting hurt?" Wilkinson said, referring to the budgeting process and what he called the city's history in recent years of not providing enough in local taxes to fund education. "The kids. The people who work in the system. The first thing I beg of you to do, when you go (to the council seeking approval of the school budget), you need to stand together. If you don't, councilors will be bombarded by phone calls and emails as they sit there, and all those cuts you talked about will come back."

Wilkinson, an attorney whose wife is a teacher in the city's schools, cited statistics showing the median family income in Augusta has increased only $400 since 2000. He said he understands that many people in Augusta have incomes so low, and stagnant, they really can't afford a tax increase.

"The people who say they can't possibly afford another penny (in taxes), they might be right for a lot of them," he said. "That, to me, is a terrible problem, but it doesn't eliminate the primary obligation, which is to the kids. It's not their fault."

Board members agreed Wednesday in an informal straw poll to lease-purchase laptops or other technology to replace aging machines used by students now, rather than purchase them outright, as was originally proposed by administrators, to close the remaining $331,000 gap in the Augusta school budget.

That decision, when combined with other cuts discussed previously by board members and a $21,000 cut in money to be set aside for technology repairs and maintenance that officials hope not to need because of the arrival of hundreds of new machines, would plug the remaining hole in the proposed school budget, according to Superintendent of Schools James Anastasio.

Payments, including interest, would be about $90,000 a year.

Kathy Casparius, business manager, said the interest rate would be 3.14 percent. She said there would be no penalty for paying it off early.

"I don't always like to borrow money, but 3.14 percent, the rate is very reasonable, and I think it is time," said Nicole Desjardins, Ward 3 board member. "It is time this board made a statement in favor of technology in our schools."

The proposed budget, written before administrators learned Augusta's state subsidy would be more than $1 million less than last year, is up about $1.5 million, or 5.5 percent, and would require about $800,000 from property taxpayers, which is up by 7 percent compared to last year's school budget.

The gap between revenue and expenses school officials had to close was more than $1 million, but a majority of school board members had agreed informally at previous board meetings to use $400,000 from the schools' fund balance account, for a total of $2 million from that account, to help balance the budget.

School board members also informally had agreed previously to $340,000 worth of cuts proposed by administrators. Those cuts include two half-time secretaries at elementary schools, saving $30,000; a study hall monitor at Cony, saving $22,000; a half-time middle school literacy mentor, saving $30,000; $160,000 worth of buildings and grounds projects; replacing three of the system's six school nurses with licensed practical nurses, saving $60,000; and cutting $38,000 from the supplies budget systemwide.

Anastasio said Augusta may not have to spend about $86,000 that is in the budget now because of a proposed change in how charter schools are funded by the state.

Board members debated what do to with those funds, should they become available.

But the superintendent also warned of unbudgeted possible expenses for which that money could be needed, including hiring another "English language learner" teacher to teach students whose native language is not English and another kindergarten teacher. He said the board could consider reinstating some of the previously discussed cuts or consider using the money to reduce the amount to be asked for in local property taxes.

Board members, after extensive debate about how to use the about $86,000 in potential funds, agreed to reduce the amount to be requested from local taxpayers.

©2015 Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC


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