Fayette will hold a special town meeting 7 p.m. Aug. 18 at Fayette Central School where voters will be asked to add $106,000 to a school budget they approved in June.

The additional money is earmarked to add almost $52,000 to regular instruction, almost $39,000 for special education and almost $15,500 toward a principal post where 70 percent of the work would be administrative and 30 percent teaching. Earlier this year, the school committee eliminated the teaching principal position held by Nancy Godfrey, who split those roles equally.

According to Fayette School Committee member Elaine Wilcox, Godfrey is among the applicants for the new teaching principal post.

At the annual Town Meeting June, voters adopted budget committee and selectmen recommendations to spend $1.6 million on the school rather than follow the School Committee’s recommendation of $1.9 million. That included $57,000 for the teaching principal.

The intent was to have a special town meeting should the additional funds be needed.

“This special town meeting is purposed to ask for approval for a supplemental request that has been made by the new superintendent,” said Town Manager Mark Robinson on Sunday. “It was stated more than once (at the June meeting) there would likely be a special town meeting once more information was available in these categories.”

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He said there was an “absence of information in June and a willingness — once the information is known —to address it.”

Robinson said the additional money for regular instruction is enrollment-driven. “Fayette Central School is experiencing a historically high enrollment,” Robinson said.

For the 2013-2014 school year, Fayette had 166 students in grades pre-kindergarten through 12. Eighty-two of those students were at Fayette Central School. The 84 students in grades six through 12 attended several different area schools with the town paying some or all the tuition.

Fayette schools split from Winthrop this year. Prior to June 30, the two towns’ school systems had shared a central office staff in a loose affiliation known as Alternative Organizational Structure 97.

Robinson said the cost to taxpayers for the withdrawal remains within the amount predicted by those who led the withdrawal effort.

The new superintendent for the Fayette School Department is Michael Cormier, who was hired to work 40 days a year for the system. He retired in 2013 after 20 years as superintendent of Farmington-based Regional School Unit 9, the Mt. Blue Regional School District. A phone message left at Cormier’s home Sunday afternoon was not returned.

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Aug. 27 is the first day of school in Fayette.

The property tax rate for the town stands at $13.75. However, the tax commitment has yet to be set for the current year. Robinson said if all the articles are approved, the rate could be around $15.25 per $1,000 in property valuation.

Betty Adams — 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @betadams


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