BINGHAM — School district officials from Bingham and Moscow have come up with $98,000 in budget cuts to the school district budget that will go before voters next month for a third time.

The cuts include savings on the salary of longtime principal Linda MacKenzie who is leaving School Administrative District 13 for a job in the Millinocket School Department, according to Superintendent Virginia Rebar.

MacKenzie was principal of all three district schools — Moscow Elementary, Quimby Middle School and Upper Kennebec Valley High School.

Rebar said MacKenzie was hired by Millinocket Superintendent Kenneth Smith, the former superintendent in Bingham and Moscow. She will be principal at Stearns High School and Millinocket Middle School. Neither Smith nor MacKenzie could be reached for comment Thursday.

Rebar said the school board nominated a new principal at a special session Wednesday night, but would not release the person’s name until a contract is settled.

“I was able to find considerable savings in new hires — the difference between the people that left and the people we hired,” Rebar said. “Also we had a pretty good bid for heating oil, and we were able to find some savings there. The social worker was cut to two days from three days and we may be able to save some funding with the new principal.”

Three of the newly hired employees are first-year teachers who will start at entry-level salaries.

District voters rejected the proposed $3.1 million budget for the coming year twice — once in June and again earlier this month. In each vote, residents approved the spending at a public budget meeting only to reject it in the privacy of the ballot box.

Rebar said there have been no dates set for a public hearing and referendum on the new budget. She said the board will meet again on July 31.


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