Baldwin schools stay within cap

On the same day the baseball season kicked off for most big league clubs, state lawmakers threw a curveball of their own to school administrators and boards of education preparing to pierce the property tax levy cap.

The Baldwin Board of Education adopted a budget in March with a 3.25 percent tax levy increase, which would have exceeded the district’s maximum allowable increase of 1.51 percent. When the State Legislature approved its own budget on March 31, however, it included a provision offering tax rebates to homeowners who live in school districts that propose budgets at or below the tax levy limit.

Board members voted unanimously on April 9 to adopt a new $122 million tax cap-compliant budget, after holding a special hearing on the issue the previous night. “I don’t think we have too much choice but to go with 1.51 [percent],” said Mary Jo O’Hagan, board vice president.

“The state certainly has made it doubly difficult for school districts to raise the money they need to make up for the lack of support from the state in terms of state aid,” said Superintendent James Scannell. The timing of the new state policy, he added, made it tough to keep community members informed about the budget, since it came deep into the planning process.

In order to stay below the tax cap, Baldwin administrators earmarked about $1 million more of the district’s s state aid — a total of $25.2 million — for the budget, and roughly $524,000 in surplus from the current school year. According to Scannell, the surplus wasn’t included in the initial budget discussions months ago because it was too early in the year to project what that surplus would be.

Scannell said that the new budget restored many programs the board wanted, including middle school and high school sports and musicals, district intramurals and music programs for fourth-graders. All staff and educational programs will be maintained.

“These activities help support the education program because students that are active and interested in school do better academically,” Scannell said. “In Baldwin, the schools are very much the center of the community in terms of activities, so it’s things for students to do after school.”