From the Superintendent
As I referenced last week, the proposed 2026-27 district budget was rolled out to the Board at their March 5 meeting. Here are some highlights associated with the budget:
- The total proposed budget increase is $4.1 million over the current year, or 7.6%, with a total budget just under $58 million.
- For several years now, Maine has been losing students overall. MSAD 51 is one of only a handful of school districts in the state whose student enrollment continues to grow, and has been doing so since 2016. Though this growth has slowed somewhat over the last couple of years, all forecasts are that more students will be attending our schools for the foreseeable future. As such, this budget (as with the previous ten budgets) reserves additional funds to meet enrollment increases, with $580,000 in new requests for this purpose in 2026-27.
- The district has developed a long-range financial plan for tiering the One Campus project debt increase over multiple budget cycles. Over the next year, debt service and land acquisition related to the project will account for a net increase of $666,574.
- About 80% of the district's budget is labor costs. Given inflationary pressures over the last several years, salaries and benefits have increased substantially and represent a majority of the budget increase.
- 73.5% of the total budget goes directly to the classroom, well above the state average of 69.2%. MSAD 51 always exceeds the state average for direct funding to classrooms through careful decision-making that prioritizes academic services.
- Unlike the last five budget cycles, state aid to MSAD 51 is expected to be stagnant in 2026-27. Though we are not losing funding, we are not seeing increases of $1 million or more as in previous budget cycles. This is due to many factors, including the increasing value of both towns. The state's Essential Programs and Services model, which provides state assistance to public schools, relies heavily on a community's property value in its formula, with high-growth communities receiving reduced state aid.
- With salaries, benefits, and debt service making up the vast majority of next year's budget increase, the balance is due to investments in safety, operations, and academic/instructional support.
- This budget does not include a quarter-million dollars in requests that we were unable to advance through the process.
- This budget reflects $280,000 in reductions from the current year.
- Without the completion of both town's revaluations and projected community growth, both of which impact the final tax effect for the schools, initial tax numbers are likely a worst-case scenario. In Cumberland, tax support for schools would rise 7.5% and in North Yarmouth it would rise 8.2%. Again, this is an early estimate and these increases will likely drop as we get more information from the towns.
Regards,
Jeff Porter 
Thursday’s Spirit Week assembly was an absolute blast! 🎉 Students jumped into a variety of fun activities and challenges, showing off their school spirit and teamwork. The highlight of the event? Getting the chance to pie their teachers in the face! 🥧😄 Students cheered on their classmates and watched their teachers take one for the team. It was a fantastic way to celebrate and bring everyone together!
Notices from the Office of the Superintendent
FREE BUS CLASS!
It's time to name the new PreK-1 school!
Thanks to the many community members and students who voted, the board will now decide between the Carolyn F. Small School or Greely Primary School at the April 2 board meeting.
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Active Minds/ KyleCares Mental Health Matters 5K
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