School Budget

In past columns, we’ve looked at various parts of the Millinocket school budget, making comparisons and posing certain questions. In these opinion columns, I’ve taken the liberty of offering my viewpoint on a number of these issues, leaving it for you to agree in full or in part, or to come to another conclusion entirely.

I’m not going to do that here. In this section, I am going to simply give you the numbers. I think they speak for themselves. Let’s look at the wages and benefits alone.

I include the enrollment figures in the table to the right so that you can realize, as you probably do already, that this is not a large school department. We have fewer than a thousand students in the entire school department. Keep that in mind as you review the amount of money that we pay in salaries and benefits.

Some Math:

• We spend a total of $5,044,714.30 per year on wages and benefits alone.
• With a total of 865 students enrolled in the Millinocket School Department, this equals an average expenditure of $6,248.22 per student per year.
• Let’s not forget that this includes wages and benefits alone.

-- Ken Anderson 02/26/03