Portland officials voted Monday night to send the school department’s proposed $161.4 million budget to the public for the June 11 referendum. 

“We are grateful to the city council and the mayor for their unanimous support of this budget,” said Portland School Board Chair Sarah Lentz and Superintendent Ryan Scallon in a joint statement. “In the face of daunting fiscal challenges, this budget is as responsive as possible to the needs of our students, staff and families, while also keeping in mind the concerns of taxpayers. Portland voters have consistently shown at the polls each year that they value a quality public education for our city’s children and we hope they turn out again June 11 to support this fair and responsible budget.”

The proposed school and municipal budgets combined could, if passed, lead to an increase for the average homeowner of just over $266 for the year.

The school district’s proposed budget adds up to $161.4 million, with $154 million to be raised locally, according to School Superintendent Ryan Scallon. That’s technically smaller than this year’s $163 million budget.

If passed as-is, the new spending plan will still lead to an increase for taxpayers. 

“This is largely driven, all driven, by a loss in non-local revenue,” Scallon told the city’s joint finance committee at an April 25 meeting.

In 2024, Scallon said, the $163 million budget included $19 million in state and federal subsidies. 

For 2025, that number has dropped to $7 million, leaving $154 million to be raised locally. 

The decrease, he said, was due to a relatively flat amount of state funding, along with the loss of more than $9 million in federal funding, including COVID relief funding, that had been available in previous years. That means the portion of the budget covered by local funding must increase to fill the gap. 

To ease the tax burden, the district eliminated nine full-time custodial positions and 20 positions at the central office, according to data from the district.

The bottom line, Scallon said on April 25, was that despite the 2025 budget being smaller, taxpayers can expect it will, if approved, lead to a tax increase.

With both the proposed school and city budgets taken together, the new combined tax rate would add up to an increase of 4.9%, or approximately $0.71, over 2024. For the $375,000 homeowner, the total adds up to about $266.25 a year.

During a budget preview in January, it was suggested that municipal budget shortfalls would lead to an increase to the municipal tax rate as high as 16%. The council responded by setting an increase cap of 5% to 7% instead.