By Jodi Wolfe
Staff Writer

The Pembroke School Board has finalized its 2005-06 budget.

The total proposed budget is $19,485,075, which is a 6.4 percent increase from last year’s $18,306,093. The tax rate will increase by 48 cents, said Thomas Haley, superintendent of schools.

The 2005-06 budget will include two Renaissance Project programs, which were part of 12 proposed initiatives prepared by Haley and the school district’s principals.

Those programs are the Pushing Your Limits program and the adult education/high school diploma program, both at Pembroke Academy.

The grant for the Renaissance Project ran out June 21 and the project is now looking for new ways to cover the cost of the programs it began.

Haley would like to see those programs in the budget because they have been so successful, he said.

“Needless to say, I’m thrilled,” said Mark Maroney, director of the Renaissance Project. “I wasn’t anticipating any less. The school board and the administration had praised the programs and considered them (part of the school district).”

Pushing Your Limits is an orientation program for students entering Pembroke Academy as freshmen. The program has grown extensively since it started. It is estimated to cost $16,195.

The adult education/high school diploma program is an opportunity for students who don’t want to be enrolled in school all day, but still want to get their high school diploma.

“They will continue to have that alternative, thanks to the school district,” said Maroney.

Students take evening classes and earn a high school diploma, not a GED. The program also allows students to be counted as part of the school district, which therefore decreases the dropout rate, said Haley.

That program is estimated to cost $12,836.

Maroney is still waiting to determine the funding for the other Renaissance Project programs, but those two were the biggest and most crucial, he said.

In addition to Pushing Your Limits and the adult education programs, the school board included two other proposed staff initiatives into the 2005-06 budget. Those initiatives are a new fifth-grade teacher at Three Rivers School and a nurse’s assistant at Pembroke Academy.

During the Nov. 29 school board meeting, Haley said he had been working on getting a nurse’s assistant to help the single nurse at Pembroke Academy who serves 1,040 students. When the state assessed the school for accreditation, there was concern about the nurse working by herself, Haley said.

Anurse’s assistant would cost approximately $9,381 with salary and benefits.

Deb Bulkley, principal of Three Rivers School, told the school board that all the other grades at the school have five teachers except the fifth grade, which has four. Next year, she would like another teacher because she is expecting a large number of fifth-grade students. A new fifth-grade teacher would cost approximately $52,798 with salary and benefits.

A special education teacher was added into the budget for students at Three Rivers School. While the new teacher will cost $40,000 to $50,000 plus benefits, it will save the school district $100,000 in out-of-district placements, said Clinton Hanson, chairman of the school board.

The budget was presented to the budget committee on Thursday, Dec. 16, which was the first of three budget committee sessions.

Gerard Fleury, vice chairman of the school board, said the session was very cordial and pleasant.

“I was very pleased with the way the initial meeting went off,” Fleury said.

The next session for the budget committee’s deliberations on the 2005-06 school board budget will be on Thursday, Jan. 6.