READFIELD — Whether to add an interventionist back into Regional School Unit 38’s $23.7 million spending plan dominated debate at Wednesday’s annual district budget meeting. 

Although about 30 residents from the district towns of Wayne, Readfield, Mount Vernon and Manchester approved the budget as the board presented it, one parent attempted to add $90,000 to restore a position that was cut.

The $23,678,865 proposed budget for the upcoming school year is an increase of $726,921 over the current year’s budget, mostly due to the expiration of COVID-era funds and an increase in out-of-district placements for special education students.  

Emily Watson attempted to add $90,000 to the budget to restore an intervention teacher to the budget.

An interventionist is a teacher who can provide additional help to students in subjects like math or reading. The board added those positions in the aftermath of the pandemic; Wayne Elementary School had two interventionists and one position was cut.

Watson argued that having one interventionist is not enough to help the students at the school, based on data she received from the district that showed around 50% of students at Wayne Elementary School relied on an interventionist to help them.

She had some support from people in attendance, but ultimately, her attempt to add the money into the budget failed.

David Twitchell, one of Wayne’s two representatives to the school board, said that although he recognizes the importance of the position, he stands with the decision made by the school to cut the position. 

“It does affect the amount of intervention in this school, but it does not have to change the quality of care each student is getting,” Twitchell said.  

To pay for the budget, RSU 38 residents will raise $15,794,089 through taxes, which is an increase of $446,755 over the current year’s budget, an increase of just under 3%.

The remainder of the budget is allocated through state subsidy and $108,691 in carryforward money, which are unspent funds from prior budget years. 

The following amounts were approved by voters for the RSU 38 towns to raise: 

• Manchester will raise $4,881,377, an increase of $157,103.

• Mt. Vernon will raise $3,561,582, an increase of $90,705.

• Readfield will raise $4,459,417, an increase of $102,219.

• Wayne will raise $2,891,711, an increase of $96,727.

New this year, the RSU 38 school board established a budget committee to help move the monthslong budget process forward in a way that created ample opportunity for the public to participate, board Chairman Shawn Roderick said. 

“People were able to follow along and if they did not want to go to the full board meeting, they could attend the budget committee meetings,” Roderick said. “We also had a new process of explaining (the budget) to the public. It’s nice and makes it very simple.” 

Roderick said he heard that several people were pleased with the way the district handled the budget process by way of the budget committee.

The board sent out a flyer that explained and outlined the budget and posted a frequently asked question document on the school website. Additionally, when each warrant article was read at the budget meeting, a school board member explained what each section of the budget covered.

“People attended and reached out to the budget committee,” Roderick said. “The budget committee had specific meetings so they can take more time to talk about the budget,”

The RSU 38 towns will vote on the budget again in a secret ballot referendum on June 10 to approve and adopt the budget. They will also have the choice of continuing to vote through a budget meeting, or to switch entirely to a secret ballot process.