BEALS — Residents are scheduled to hold a special town meeting Tuesday, June 2, to consider a $1.6 million budget for Beals Elementary School.
The amount exceeds the state’s new Essential Programs and Services allocation by $892,210 and is $109,437 higher than the current 2025‑26 budget of $1.5 million.
In the warrant going before voters, the School Committee writes: “Due to decreased enrollment, increased state valuation and small school size, this method of subsidy calculation requires additional local money be raised above that which the State calculates is needed to operate our elementary school.”
Voters are expected to be asked in Article 17 whether any state subsidy received above the budgeted amount may be spent or must instead be used to reduce the local tax burden.
Beals Elementary School now serves 40 students in prekindergarten through eighth grade, about 30 of whom are town residents. The town’s population was 443 in the 2020 census.
Selectmen say taxpayers have raised concerns about whether Beals should continue operating an elementary school that once enrolled more than 100 children, but now has only about 30 resident students spread across 10 grades.
On Feb. 4, 2026, the Beals Board of Selectmen wrote to Joseph Swain, superintendent of Moosabec Community School District and School Union 103 — which includes Beals Elementary School, Jonesport Elementary School and Jonesport-Beals High School — urging him to consider alternatives to traditional educational options.
“Our Select Board realizes that you are currently working with the Beals School Board to prepare the 2026-27 Elementary School Budget,” the letter read in part. “We feel this is the perfect opportunity to reiterate the need to include alternatives for educating our students along with the traditional budget for continuance for the local school.”
Selectmen said taxpayers had asked what it would cost to send Beals children to Jonesport Elementary School, 3 miles away, and what the cost would be of combining the elementary schools if Jonesport residents agreed.
They also wondered how much state subsidy the town receives for out‑of‑town students and whether the elementary school building could legally be used for another purpose.
The superintendent held public meetings to discuss the budget, and he attended the Board of Selectmen meeting May 12 to answer questions, but he has discussed alternatives only in general terms. The warrant going before voters contains no alternatives.
“There is no guarantee that closing the school would save the town money,” Swain said. “You should keep the school that you love. That’s really what this ultimately is.”
