Enrollment error undercounted Lubec high school students

 Lubec has seven more students than you know about," said AOS 77 Superintendent Kenneth Johnson, opening the April 7 school budget workshop, which was attended by all members of the school committee and also two members of the town's budget committee and two members of the Lubec Select Board. Johnson went on to explain that these were Lubec high school students enrolled at Machias Memorial High School and Washington Academy who had not been included in the roster at the start of the academic year and whose subsequent enrollment had not been reported to either the AOS or the Lubec school administration. While confidentiality rules prevented Johnson from identifying the students, he said, "They all have local names. You would look at these names and think you know them." Some, he said, probably moved across from Campobello to live with family members in Lubec, where the COVID restrictions were less stringent. Others possibly moved in for unrelated family reasons. "Regardless of why they are here, they are your students. You have no choice but to educate them."
Currently, as Lubec has no high school, grades 9-12 are sent to area high schools, at a cost ranging from approximately $11,000 to $13,000 per student per year, with a total for the seven, Johnson said, of "about $85,000." This cost was not included in the budget for the current fiscal year, approved by voters on June 24, 2021, but must now be covered. The current tuition budget line, not including the seven, is $185,043.
Following Johnson's revelation, the conversation centered on culpability. Machias Memorial is part of AOS 96, and Washington Academy is a private school. Neither have a formal procedure for alerting AOS 77 when a student registers after the start of the school year. Johnson admitted that procedures at the AOS 77 office did not catch the increase in billing, saying, "If someone wants to blame me, I'll accept that." Also, the Lubec school board has not put in place a requirement that mid year changes be reported. The Lubec Select Board plays no role in preparing the school budget; as a regional school unit, RSU 85, the school committee has fiscal autonomy. According to the Maine Department of Education website, statewide a total of six towns are single town RSUs -- the organizational status that was originally established to allow multiple towns to pool resources and costs.
The plan, said Johnson, is to use a portion of the fund balance forward to cover the shortfall, so that taxpayers are not hit with the unanticipated charges. A standard part of municipal bookkeeping, what the school administrators call "fund balance forward" the town labels "unallocated funds." They are the accumulated unspent balances of previously authorized accounts and are frequently used to reduce tax levies or cover extraordinary expenditures. The total value of these funds is determined annually by auditors; in the case of RSU 85 the most recent figure is usually available in June. Going into the current fiscal year, the fund contained $624,658, a portion of which has already been spoken for in the recent boiler replacement project and also to reduce the total budget in an attempt to help prevent a mill rate increase. Putting these together with the unanticipated tuition expense will leave about $70,000 in the fund balance forward, which many consider to be a dangerously low level. How much the fund will be replenished in the next audit cycle cannot be predicted.
To make matters worse, the second draft of the budget was presented during the workshop, but the increased tuition expenses were not included in cost projections. Johnson, who apparently was not aware of the omission until it was pointed out, termed it a "clerical error," but the result was that the projected revenue requirement presented at that time may be incomplete.
Withdrawing this amount from fund balance forward will require a special town meeting, Johnson said, saying that he has been in contact with the Lubec Town Administrator Renee Gray about establishing a schedule. At this time, the meeting date has not been set.

Other business
Also during the workshop, committee member Joanne H. Case questioned whether the town's public works department could take over plowing snow, pointing out that that had been the practice years ago "when Richard Huntley's father was in charge of public works." This comment sparked a somewhat heated conversation between Case and Dana Bradley, who was in the audience, with Bradley expressing concerns over the additional workload. Johnson pointed out that he was neither for nor against it "as long as the buses get out in time," then observed that this should be an issue for the board meeting, which had not yet started.
In business before the board, Donald Bresnahan of Mechanical Services had been slated to make an appearance but instead sent a letter to Johnson. In the letter he explained that electrical work was not yet completed and was being held for the summer as a shutdown is needed. He expected the work to be completed by mid September and stated he would be present for the May meeting.
Committee member Richard Huntley expressed concern about the possibility of an accident in the driveway/parking area, citing observations of careless driving and parking during the pick up and drop off times. Chairman Sineidin O'Niall suggested that the matter be placed before the select board, as it would also affect South Street residents.
The board also considered reappointing two teachers whose employment was on probationary status. The first is Margaret Casey, whose reappointment passed unanimously and without discussion. The second under consideration is Michelle Stanhope, about whom Principal Lovina Wormell refused public comment, causing Johnson to immediately request an executive session, which lasted about a half hour. At the close, when the public was readmitted, the board voted 4-1 to decline Stanhope's reappointment, with Case casting the only dissenting vote.