Residents of Wales, Sabattus and Litchfield turned out Wednesday to vote on Regional School Unit 4’s proposed $22.7 million school budget. The budget now goes to voters at a referendum July 30. Emily Duggan/Kennebec Journal

WALES — Residents at Wednesday’s regional budget meeting for Wales-based Regional School Unit 4 added $73,000 back into the proposed budget, which faced more than $600,000 in new cuts after it failed to pass in June. Voters returned funding for middle-school sports and teacher development to the budget before passing the $22.7 million spending plan.

More than 60 voters attended the meeting in the warm and humid atmosphere of Oak Hill High School gymnasium. They ultimately voted to approve the budget, which comes in at $22,785,119, a 5% increase over the previous year’s spending. The budget now goes to a district-wide referendum July 30.

The school district’s original budget proposal failed at a referendum in June, and $665,990 was cut prior to Wednesday’s meeting, which came amid Litchfield’s attempt to start a withdrawal process from the district.

Residents at the meeting passed two amendments, with a combined addition of $73,529, to keep the B-Team sports at Oak Hill Middle School and to fund professional development for teachers, after both programs were cut by school officials in the latest attempt to reduce the budget.

Jen Waterman, a Sabattus resident and school counselor at Oak Hill Middle School, made the motion to put $12,000 back into the budget for middle-school sports, as she has seen firsthand the impact the teams have had on students. 

“Sports are the carrot that gets kids to actually come to school to succeed and I’m not in favor of nickel-and-diming our kids,” she said. 

The regional budget meeting marks RSU 4’s second attempt to pass the budget this year. Last year, it took four attempts for the school district, comprising Litchfield, Wales and Sabattus, to pass a budget. 

At Wednesday’s meeting, officials presented the reduced budget to present a near 5% increase to the school district’s community, down from the original 8% increase in spending. 

Included in the cuts were: a specialist position for physical education; reduced money for field trips; a special education technician; and a library education technician. A librarian was reclassified to be an education technician level III, and a network specialist was reduced to IT education technician, as well.

The possibility of Litchfield leaving the school district hung over the meeting.

Litchfield Selectman Gary Parker objected to several items, including the moderator’s vote count. He attempted to cut the entire budget by $200,000, as he asked about the amount of money the towns will each pay to the school district. 

By law, the towns together must raise $6.28 million to receive the state’s $17.66 million in subsidy.

For costs not covered by the state’s spending formula, the school district must raise $4.3 million in local additional funds, which Parker said was an excessive amount on top of the $6 million.  

“I’m not trying to be so negative and want what’s best, but for the state to say we don’t need $4 million more than what they allot us … $4 million is an extreme amount of money and I don’t think $200,000 is a lot to take out of that,” said Parker.  

Robert English, a former school board member and resident of Wales, wanted the public to exclude the two RSU 4 schools based in Litchfield from any maintenance upgrades as the town considers leaving the district, but his motion to amend the maintenance portion of the budget was not successful.

RSU 4 has two schools based in Litchfield: Libby Tozier School and Carrie Ricker School. Oak Hill Middle School is in Sabattus, as is Sabattus Primary School. Oak Hill High School is in Wales.

“Certain Litchfield residents say they are going to withdraw (from the school district) and it’s a lot of talk,” said English. “I don’t believe the residents of Wales or Sabattus should pay to make the capital improvements to two buildings our students won’t be able to use in two years.” 

Voting to confirm the budget is on July 30 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in at Sabattus Town Hall on 190 Middle Road and Litchfield Sportsmens Club at 2261 Hallowell Road, and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Wales Town Office at 175 Centre Road.