After its first proposed budget faced significant public pushback in the form of a 77 29 vote against it on February 26, the AOS 77 joint school board voted to accept a new budget during a meeting on March 18 at the Pembroke Elementary School. The board scheduled another vote by residents of the nine towns in the AOS for Thursday, March 27, the day The Quoddy Tides goes to print. During that vote, the budget failed following a vote of 63-55 on Article 2: Special Education. [More details will follow in the April 11 issue. -ed]. The new budget saw several line items decrease, but the gains were offset by added insurance expenses, resulting in a net decrease of only $1,126 in the $855,000 budget.
      During the AOS board meeting, the chair, Krista Vining-Means, defended salary increases for the AOS central office staff, stating, "These people are a great value to the area. I was unfortunately not able to make it to the vote meeting, and to read in the newspaper that somebody cheered that one of our people might lose their job makes me personally sick. It is appalling. It is absolutely appalling and not acceptable."
      In short, the new budget that the board approved calls for a 13.63% overall increase with a 6.98% increase to local share, down from just under 14% and 7.1%, respectively, in the first budget.
      The total decreases to the budget include $2,500 in business office employee training, $1,000 in administrative office travel and $500 in dues and fees, with the total overall reductions amounting to $7,000. However, health insurance premiums increased from 5% to 8%, amounting to $5,650, and unemployment premiums increased by $224.
      Noting that most years the AOS office only finishes with around $10,000 remaining in its budget, Business Manager Chad Allen said that "it's going to be close. This budget is to the penny."
      A point of public contention during the February 26 vote was the increase in salaries for the administrative staff, all of whom received 5% or higher raises. During that vote, Superintendent MaryEllen Day had expressed that the raises would not be changed, as the elected AOS board had already approved them. No salary adjustments were presented in the second budget.
      "MaryEllen, Chad, their office, the staff of their office, these are our friends and neighbors," said AOS board member Matt Lacasse. "It's a fact that they're being paid less than their counterparts across the state, and if you want to see what spending money is, let's see them leave and have to hire their replacement."
      "This is an effort to begin to bring you up to parity," stated committee member Meg McGarvey as she addressed Day. Referencing the February 26 vote, she said, "I'm distressed by how little people know about the AOS. I think people have no concept -- we don't have all the things like a school budget does [to cut]," McGarvey said. She added that Day manages 10 boards and 10 budgets.
      According to a history of central office staff salaries provided by the AOS office, from 2020-2021 to 2025-2026 the budgeted amounts for salaries have increased from $343,331 to $471,100, or 37.2%, across seven positions, although the AOS office indicates a 31% increase. During that time there have been some changes in the positions.
      Regarding the second version of the budget and its impact on individual taxpayers, Allen prepared an estimate of what increases residents paying a property tax bill of $1,500 could expect to see. According to Allen, Eastport residents would see a $5.25 tax increase; Lubec residents, $4.20; Pembroke, $7.50; Charlotte, $8.25; Perry, $8.40; Alexander, $7.20; and Baring, $19.20, being the highest on account of its low population and the wildlife refuge. It was not clarified if the mill rate of the different municipalities was taken into account in determining those amounts.
      "People are literally paying more in gas to drive to the meeting and vote [the budget] down than what they're going to pay in taxes," Allen commented during the meeting.
      Speaking on the expense of leasing new office space, which added $31,533 to this year's budget, chair Krista Vining Means sought to make a point of clarification that Day "did not unilaterally decide to leave Eastport Elementary School. She was directed by the AOS board to look into other options. We looked at Charlotte Elementary School, Robbinston [Grade] School and the Triangle. We talked about what it would cost to make Eastport Elementary more secure."
      The classroom space in Eastport that was formerly occupied by the AOS is now being used by students who were intended for that space, Vining Means said, "and in the end, that's what we all have to do, is what's best for the students."
      "There was a litany of reasons, and with some research I found that it is extremely unorthodox for our superintendent's office to share the spaces in the school," Lacasse said.
      Vining Means said that half truths and false statements are being made online that are causing stress to the board and its individual members on a personal level.
      The warrant for the March 27 meeting was posted in the municipalities seven days in advance, as required by state law, and notice was sent out via the AOS's email list and on Facebook. To join the email list, call 853 2567 or email info@sunrisecountyschools.com.