DIXFIELD — A revised budget of $12.95 million, representing an average increase of less than 12 percent in assessments to the towns of Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru, was discussed at the Regional School Unit 56 informational meeting on Wednesday night.

In June, voters rejected a $13.2 million budget, which was an average increase of more than 20 percent in assessments.

The lowered assessment amounts were aided by an additional subsidy of $275,000 from Maine State Funding allotted to the school district. Half of that amount was received by the four towns as revenue, Business Manager Mary Dailey said following the meeting.

The estimated annual tax increase provided by each town office on a home valued at $100,000 based on the proposed school budget is Canton, $60; Carthage, $52.19; Dixfield, $175; and Peru, $100 to $120.

During the meeting, Wendell Bacon of Dixfield asked what was wrong with having 27 students in a classroom at the elementary school level, which would have occurred if the budget included a cut of a teacher at Dirigo Elementary School.

“Since I’ve been in school, there is a huge change in student population and needs of students and services students need and we have students who have significant needs a lot more than when we went to school,” DES Principal Charlie Swan said. “And the state gives us some recommendations for class sizes and we’ve always been in the range of what the state has given us for class size ranges in the elementary school going from around 15 students in the kindergarten classrooms to around 20 in the second through sixth grades.”

Cuts in curriculum development, computer upgrades, accounts payable, an administrative assistant to the superintendent, stipend pay freezes and adjustments, and reductions in overtime by transportation and maintenance staff were included in the board’s decisions to lower the budget.

Dirigo High School will also have one less teacher, and after-school activity bus runs at Dirigo elementary and middle schools will be fewer. The high school and middle school will also forego repairs to equipment, and supplies and furniture for the schools won’t be purchased.

Another area of savings will be the transition of the school’s student information tracking system, PowerSchool, with its licensing to be funded by the state instead of locally.

The annual budget meeting is 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Dirigo High School. The budget validation referendum vote will be Aug. 8 at each town’s polling buildings.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

More than a dozen people attended the RSU 56 informational meeting on Wednesday night at Dirigo High School. A revised budget of $12.95 million was presented to residents of Canton, Carthage, Dixfield and Peru, representing a 12 percent increase in assessments. In June, voters rejected a $13.2 million budget, which was an average increase of more than 20 percent in assessments.