MSAD 1 is without a budget for the second time in three years. The administration now has to work to re-examine the budget and encourage voter support.

In the five SAD #1 communities, only 572 people voted on the budget. The budget failed by 72 votes.

This year the budget increased by 4.7%, which was a natural rise of general costs that made it go up, according to Superintendent Brian Carpenter. It is now $24,799,619; that’s without Title One funding and Adult Education. The budget is made by looking at the needs of teachers, contracts, new technology, and so on. They also plan for five to 10 years in advance for what the district might need.

This no vote adds a lot of stress for the School Board. Carpenter says that in order to get this to work, community members need to vote. “This is your budget, if you want quality education you need to support the budget.” Carpenter urges parents to vote on it.

Science teacher. Carson Dobrin agrees with the superintendent. Her biggest concern is the potential for staff cuts. Dobrin thinks the public didn’t vote because they are upset about changes to harvest break.

Molly Kingsbury’s ‘19, whose older brother is a PIHS teacher, naturally has a bias towards supporting the budget, “I don’t want them to make unnecessary cuts, and I especially don’t want my brother to lose his job.”

The Board has to approve any revisions on budget, and on June 12 then community votes again.

As Kingsbury said, “It’s nothing we haven’t gone through. It will be okay.”