WEST CANAAN — Voters will have a chance to weigh in on the Mascoma Valley Regional School District’s proposed $32 million operating budget during a deliberative session this Saturday.

The proposed 2024-2025 budget is around 3.2% higher than the current year’s, Superintendent Amanda Isabelle said. The majority of the increase is due to salary increases for teachers and support staff, as well rising health and dental insurance costs.

“We have kept it as a pretty level-funded budget,” Isabelle said in a January phone interview. The default budget is around $31.7 million, which is the current school year’s budget. If voters in the Mascoma Valley towns of Canaan, Dorchester, Enfield, Grafton and Orange vote down the budget during Australian Ballot voting on Tuesday, March 12, the default budget would take effect.

The tax impact of the budget varies depending on the number of students from each town. The district uses average daily membership over three years to calculate the town apportionment.

“For 2024, the local school rate varies from a decrease of $1.13/$1,000 to an increase of $.99/$1000 in our five towns,” interim Mascoma Business Manager Debra Ford wrote in an email.

Residents in the five towns will have an opportunity to discuss the budget with school officials during Saturday’s deliberative session, which is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. in the auditorium at Mascoma Valley Regional High School, located at 27 Royal Road. More information — including the complete warrant and school report — can be found online at mascomaschools.org.

The budget includes costs for all four of the district’s schools: Enfield Village School, Canaan Elementary School, Indian River School and Mascoma Valley Regional High School. In order to pass, it must be approved by a majority of voters in all five towns. Both the School Board and the Budget Committee unanimously recommended the proposed budget.

“I think this is a very fair budget,” School Board Chairman Tim Josephson said in a phone interview earlier this week. He added that the district worked hard to find savings, especially as inflation continues to be a challenge. “I think that it addresses the district’s needs pretty well, and I’m very proud of our administration for putting it to gether pretty well with a small increase.”

A new bus contract with Butler’s Bus Service also accounts for part of the proposed budget increase.

“We have a new transportation contract with a small increase of 2.3% as we transition to more passenger van school buses to transport students who live (in) the far reaches of the district, rather than an 18% increase if we had stayed with all full-size buses,” Ford wrote in an email.

In addition to the budget, voters will be asked to approve putting money from the district’s surplus funds into five pre-existing capital reserve funds: $250,000 for facilities, $50,000 for special education, $5,000 accreditation activities and $20,000 for major systems. The majority of the surplus stems from educator positions the district has been unable to fill.

“With the teacher shortage, there are many unfilled positions that we have budgeted for but we can’t fill them,” Isabelle said. “There’s just no one interested in the jobs.”

There also is a request to create a new fund and allocate $50,000 to it for sustainability. Josephson is particularly excited about that fund, which was created in part after hearing from community members that they’d like to see the school district focus more on energy use and conservation, which could lead to lower utility bills.

“It will allow us more flexibility so we can jump after some of these grants that otherwise would take more time and be out of our reach,” Josephson said. “We’re asking taxpayers to put this money away so we can save more money in the future.”

Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.