The proposed 2008-2009 school budget represents the financial needs of our schools for the next school year. Support of this budget will enable the York School Department to continue to provide quality educational programming to the students of York. The budget for our schools has been thoroughly reviewed by the administration, School Committee and the York Budget Committee. The 2008-2009 budget proposal represents the dedicated work of many individuals whose commitment is to provide services to the students of York.
The budget that will be presented to the voters in May represents a decrease of 2.8 teaching and administrative positions from the current number of employees. This reduction is possible, in large part, due to the decline in student enrollment. We are expecting a decline in student population of approximately 4 percent for the next school year, attributable to several factors, including the cost of housing in York. There are fewer families with school-aged children moving into York and this has impacted enrollments in our schools. Although this decline is not dramatic, it is sufficient for us to be making staffing reductions. We continue to carefully monitor student enrollments because the number of students we serve has a direct impact on the financial resources we require.
Energy costs have had a significant impact on our budget needs for next year. Just as we all are adjusting to increasing costs for fuel oil and other energy needs in our personal lives, we too must make those adjustments in our schools. We have been faced with a 34 percent increase in energy costs in this proposed budget. This is a significant increase when we consider that the energy consumption in our schools has decreased by 36 percent. These reductions have occurred through deliberate actions taken by the School Committee to pursue greater energy efficiency in our facilities.
Programming for our students has remained consistent with our past practice. We have shifted resources within our budget to adjust for program needs. The overall budget reflects a 3.6 percent increase from the prior year. Instructional costs that are directly controlled have been level funded or decreased. This, combined with careful monitoring of current expenditures, has allowed us to maintain a budget increase that is below the York Tax Task Force recommendation.
This year the state of Maine has experienced a significant reduction in the amount of anticipated revenue. This loss of revenue resulted in the state decreasing the amount of subsidy provided to local communities for education. The state reduction of local subsidy to York is in the amount of $930,000, a significant amount of money that would shift to local citizens. The York School Committee has made the decision to offset this impact by using $800,000 of the school fund balance to apply toward this subsidy loss. This means that $800,000 of the reduction of state subsidy will come from the fund balance and will not be transferred to citizens. The remaining amount of the loss of subsidy will be applied locally. This loss of state subsidy is intended to be a one-year adjustment; however, we will be monitoring that assumption closely as we plan next year's budget.
There are two capital projects for the schools being requested of the voters. The first is roof replacement at York High School. The gym roof and the roof over the administrative area of the school have reached the end of their useful lives. This project will replace these two roofs that are 21 and 28 years old and will preserve the town's investment in its high school facility. All other roofs at the high school were updated and replaced in 1999 and 2000. In addition, the insulation of the area over the administrative area of the high school will be improved, thus reducing energy consumption at the school. The cost of replacing the gym roof is estimated at $125,000 and the cost of insulating and replacing the roof over the administrative area is estimated at $130,000. The total roof project budget for the gym and the administrative area is estimated to be $255,000.
The second capital project is the York High School music instructional space. The request for musical instructional space comes from the need to provide an adequate learning environment for York High School students involved in the choral and band programs. The arts are a core academic subject and are part of the state requirements and adopted York Schools' curriculum expectations for graduation. Currently, we do not have dedicated space for choral instruction. The band program is presently housed in a space that is too small for the number of participating students. We now have 300 students in the choral and band programs, and these numbers are expected to increase because of the participation rate at the middle school.
This capital project will provide two large instructional spaces (band and chorus), three smaller practice areas and two teacher offices. These spaces were originally part of the full auditorium project that went to the voters in May 2006. This project would result in a phased approach to the full auditorium/instructional space project. The instructional space is the priority over the performance (auditorium) space; however, the need for a full auditorium will remain and is part of the long-range capital plan.
The benefit of this project is that it will provide appropriate instructional space necessary for our band and choral programs. This space would be large enough to accommodate the number of students involved in these programs and space for related storage. Smaller student practice areas would provide space for individual or small group instruction and practice.
The cost of the music instructional space is $2.3 million. Of that figure, $800,000 from the school fund balance will be used to offset the full amount, thus leaving the remaining balance of $1.5 million to be bonded.
This year the voters of York will see a change in the number and description of the school warrant articles on the ballot. The reason for this is because the state of Maine has legislated specific articles that must be presented to the voters. We have tried to combine requirements of the state with the expectations of the York Charter. Each voter will be sent a voter booklet that will explain these changes and will include the sample warrant articles.
Our students perform extremely well on state and national assessment and we are proud of their achievement. We recognize the strengths and needs of the York School System and join with our community to foster the growth of all students in York. I would like to thank the voters of York for their ongoing support of our schools and ask for your continued support our work by endorsing the proposed school budget.
