The Eastport and Lubec school systems will be facing some tough choices, as final state subsidy figures indicate a $344,741 cut in state funding for Eastport and a $293,322 cut for SAD 19 in Lubec. Jonesport has also been particularly hard hit, with a $267,000 cut in funding, and Machiasport will see a $184,160 reduction. Other area towns will also face losses, although not as significant.

"We've had a drastic decrease in revenue," says SAD 19 Superintendent Michael Buckley. "Based on that, the board is in a very difficult position to develop a budget that is reasonable to educate the children and is fair to the taxpayers."

Neither Buckley nor Union 104 Superintendent Terry Lux have any definite thoughts yet on how their schools will absorb the cuts. "We will have to look at personnel, everything," says Buckley. "The school board will be exploring all options."

Lux notes that specific budget figures will depend on expenses and the amount being carried over to next year. "We're in the dialogue stages now." She will be meeting with the school principals to ask them to come up with possible scenarios to deal with the cuts, and then she'll meet with the Eastport school board. She will also be working with two other Union 104 towns that face cuts, Pembroke, with a 10% cut in funding, and Charlotte, with a 14% reduction.

Lux hopes that a budget plan will be ready by the first of May. "We should have had these figures February 1," she points out, concerning the subsidy amounts from the state. "Everything's been on hold."

In Lubec, the budget will need to be ready by early May in order to be sent to the voters for a referendum in June. Under the new budget validation process required by state law, voters will need to approve the entire budget in a local referendum.

Buckley says that Lubec will have to increase its local share of the school budget by $81,555 in order to receive a state subsidy of $434,548. He says Lubec ended up being cut in its state funding because of a $29 million increase in property valuation.

The state budget that was adopted on March 31 reduces General Purpose Aid for Local Schools by $34.1 million from the original budget proposal. With the loss of transition funding that had been given to school districts suffering significant losses under the new Essential Programs and Services (EPS) funding model, Eastport's state funding has been cut by 34%, Lubec's by 43%, Jonesport's by 92% and Machiasport's by 31%. Other area towns that will see losses include Baileyville, $36,360 or 13%; Calais, $115,815 or 3%; Charlotte, $61,993 or 14%; Cutler, $10,079 or 3%; Pembroke, $91,380 or 10%; and Robbinston, $10,045 or 2%.

Area school officials have argued that the new EPS funding formula is unfair to small, rural and coastal schools, with the greatest impact of the inequity of the formula being on high-valuation, low-income districts in the coastal and lake regions. Districts with declining school enrollments are also affected.