Members of the Derby Board of Education unanimously approved an $18.3 million budget Thursday that carries a 3.3 percent increase over the current budget.
The school board trimmed $180,000 off their proposed spending plan during the meeting, the entirety of which was live streamed using an iPhone on the Valley Indy Facebook page.
The video is embedded below.
The 3.3 percent increase translates to $586,948.
The school budget now moves to the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation (often referred to as “BOAT,” or the tax board) for review.
In Derby, the tax board has the ultimate say on how much money to allocate for education.
However, the tax board just gives a bottom-line number. Its members do not have line-item control over the education budget.
That responsibility lies with the administration and the elected school board members.
In the school budget approved March 16, salaries for certified school staffers such as teachers are increasing roughly 3 percent ($275,837).
Non-certified salaries — custodians, paraprofessionals — are increasing 2.28 percent ($56,857).
Salaries, by the way, comprise about 65 percent ($11.9 million) of the total school budget.
Employee benefits are down about .3 percent.
Transportation costs are increasing almost 15 percent, or roughly $89,700.
Budget-to-budget transportation costs for special education shows a 26.5 percent increase — or $100,765.
Local school districts often do not have the ability to educate some children in special education. The local school district picks up the tab to transport those kids to places where they go to school.
The budget shows a 61.3 percent increase (about $61,000 now, going to $151,000 next year) in tuition paid for students who attend magnet and charter schools outside Derby. The costs are going up because Bridgeport started charging out-of-towners to attend the city’s magnet and charter schools.
The district is opting to increase spending on travel and meetings by 46.6 percent, or $7,000, according to draft copy of the budget. It brings the total spent on travel and meetings to $22,000.
Prior to last week’s meeting, Derby Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Conway said that money is to reimburse staffers who travel to conferences for training.
