Residents of the School Administrative District 13 towns of Moscow and Bingham go to the polls for the fourth time Tuesday to vote on a proposed school budget. The amount is the same, but some juggling of positions might satisfy enough residents to get the job done this time.
A referendum on the proposed $3,499,635 school budget for 2017-18 failed for the third time in September. The budget question — which twice before had been rejected — failed again by secret ballot, this time by just three votes, 73-70.
Brian Malloy, school board chairman, said Bingham voters approved the budget. Moscow residents did not. Voters in Bingham said “yes” to the budget, 52-40. Moscow voters said “no,” 33-18.
SAD 13 Superintendent Virginia Rebar said Friday the “bottom line” is the same — $3,499,635 — but changes were made in what the money will fund.
“We had a teaching assistant principal with a stipend of $10,000, and the board eliminated that and instead restored the administrative liaisons, which is the building-based teacher leader in each of the schools,” Rebar said by phone Friday.
The school board also moved some money in the administrative line for the high school to restore the high school liaison.
“Essentially, there’s no change in the bottom line,” she said. “The board didn’t want to reduce anything that would have an effect on students. They felt that the budget was worthy and they’re resubmitting it once again.”
The proposed budget was approved Thursday night at the district budget meeting.
Polling will take place at the usual voting stations in Moscow and Bingham from 1 to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Residents in June said “no,” 80-58, to a budget of $3,622,076 for 2017-2018 that had showed an increase in spending of $162,568.
The vote was cast June 13 by secret-ballot referendum. Voters earlier had approved the spending package during the June 6 budget meeting. Voters went back to the polls in July, August and September.
Highlights of the proposed budget, which was supposed to have taken effect July 1, include $1,311,789 for regular instruction, down from the rejected $1,344,808; $546,287 for special education, down from the proposed $556,456 in June; $255,269 for system administration, down from the proposed $264,869 originally; and $255,460, down from $324,752 for school administration.
Doug Harlow — 612-2367
Twitter:@Doug_Harlow
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