It took the 100-plus assembled voters less than 45 minutes to approve the Boothbay-Boothbay Harbor CSD school committee's recommended budget of $8,790,738 on Monday night. On Thursday, May 15, for the first time, all registered voters in the two towns will have the opportunity to accept or reject that budget by secret ballot. Voting will take place in the lobby of the Boothbay Region Elementary School from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Only three citizens raised questions during Monday night's school budget meeting. Sarah Sample, Boothbay Harbor, questioned the inclusion of Pre-K funding in the budget. School Union 49 Superintendent Eileen King explained that the state has established the specific reporting areas, and that although Pre-K through Grade 12 is a budget category, the CSD budget actually only funds Kindergarten through Grade 12.

Linc Sample, Boothbay Harbor Selectman, noted that the budget outlined for the hearing was different this year and less transparent than previous years. King agreed and explained that the school consolidation legislation required this 6 cost center approach to budget reporting; King reported that the legislature had defined a different budget reporting approach for next year.

Jerry Closson, Boothbay Harbor, asked King to explain the difference between Monday's vote and Thursday's vote on the school budget. King explained that in Monday night's meeting, voters would be setting the budget, while on Thursday, voters would have the opportunity to accept or reject the budget set on Monday night. Closson asked if due to consolidation, voters may be asked to raise additional dollars for the 2008-2009 school budget at a later date. King replied no, and explained that consolidation, if chosen by the towns, would not affect the school district until the next fiscal year. No other questions were asked and voters overwhelmingly approved the budget articles without further comment.

Anyone who expected a detailed budget presentation or discussion went home disappointed Monday night. Monday's hearing was little more than formal approval of the school committee's work on the budget. Not that the public hasn't had the opportunity to be involved in the school budget process. The school committee met twice monthly throughout the winter in open meetings to review the total budget line by line. Generally, these school committee meetings are rarely attended by members of the general public. This year was no exception: the only comments offered by citizens during the budget review meetings were regarding the Lewis lawsuit settlement's effect on the budget.

The CSD school committee has faced a challenging budget year, with a state subsidy cut of over $400,000 and voiced public disapproval of the CSD's $100,000 settlement in the Lewis lawsuit. The budget submitted by the school committee and approved by voters on Monday night was $499,000 less than the original budget presented by administrators in January, and $125,000 less than last year's school budget. Despite the cuts, with the loss of state dollars, local taxpayers will still see an increase in the town's assessment. The overall assessment to the towns is up $152,178 or about 2.1 percent from last year.

Thursday's vote will reveal whether local residents are satisfied with the school committee's work on the 2008-2009 budget. A `yes' vote will "lock in" the budget approved on Monday. A `no' vote will send the budget back to school administrators for reworking, and, eventually, another vote. Presumably, in the face of a `no' vote, the school committee will make further cuts to an already lean budget.

Superintendent King said on Tuesday, "A `no' vote at this point would be devastating to our students in both academic and extra-curricular programs . . . While I realize a "no" translates into a desire to lower taxes, we still have a responsibility to the students in our schools to provide them with a comprehensive educational program that will allow them to compete with any other student in the state of Maine."