Preliminary Derby School Budget Calls For $1.3 Million Increase

As it stands, the proposed 2010-2011 Derby school budget totals $18.6 million, a 7.6 percent spending increase over the current budget.

Upon previewing it at Monday’s school board meeting, schools Superintendent Stephen Tracy said school officials must figure out ways to bring it down.

“Personally, I think it has to be lower than that. We’ll have to sharpen our pencils between now and Feb. 4,” Tracy said.

Go To These Meetings

Feb. 4 is the first of several school board budget meetings scheduled for February. The others will be Feb. 9, Feb. 11 and Feb. 23. All meetings will be at 6:30 p.m., most likely in the “cafetorium” of the new Derby Middle School.

The Increase

The current budget totals $17.3 million. The new budget increases spending by about $1.3 million. Tracy outlined the increase Monday. It includes:

• $90,000 to institute a curriculum coordinator:
  “We eliminated the assistant superintendent’s position in the current year’s budget and I don’t think a month has gone by where we haven’t regretted that,” Tracy said. “I would like, and I think the board would like, to restore some level of district wide attention to curriculum, professional development, assessment of student performance, things of that sort.”

• $90,000 for contracted salary increases

• $375,000 for health benefits:
  The district uses Anthem. Tracy said he has been trying to get bids from other companies, but so far two companies have declined to offer plans to Derby, most likely due to the district’s small size.

• $50,000 for an alternative education program at the high school:
  High School Principal Fran Thompson explained this expense as an investment for the school board. The Valley desperately needs a local alternative high school, officials said. At-risk students currently enrolled in such programs go outside Derby — at the cost of the home district.

The district, after establishing an alternative program at the high school, may be able to offer seats, at a price, to surrounding lower Valley towns.

This program will be discussed in detail at the Feb. 11 meeting, when the budgets for the high school (including athletics) and the middle school will also be discussed.

• $288,000 in costs incurred by the new Derby Middle School:
  The superintendent noted this is roughly 1.6 percent of the spending increase in the proposed budget.

• $50,000 in transportation
  Tracy said with a sixth grade migrating to the new Middle School in the fall, transportation costs will increase.

“More buses, more gasoline, more time on the road,” Tracy said.

• $220,000 for students mandated to be put in schools outside the district:
  This includes students who are in legal trouble and are in court-ordered programs where they receive schooling.

• $120,000 for special education tuition:
  This is for students who need special services that cannot be provided in Derby schools.

Enrollment

Enrollment in the school district is estimated at 1,550 students by Oct. 2010.

The budget does not restore any of the positions — such as the librarians and paraprofessionals — lost during last year’s round of budget cuts, Tracy said.

“My goal at this time is to maintain our current staffing levels and to avoid the layoff nightmare we had last year,” Tracy said. “Unfortunately this budget does not recover a lot of the losses we had last year.”

Class Size

The budget assumes the following class sizes for 2010 – 2011:

Kindergarten: 23 to 24 students

First – Third: 20 to 25 students

Fourth – Fifth: 20 to 25 students

Seventh through Eighth: 26 to 28 students

High School: To be determined

Public Input

Only a few members of the public attended Monday night’s meeting.

Only one member of the public, Frank E. Lazowski, Sr., asked questions about the budget.

Lazowski, a Democrat who serves on the city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation, asked if the school board is using all the money allocated by the city last year.

Tracy said the district is projecting to have $8,000 left at the end of the fiscal year.

Lazowski urged the school board to explain to the tax board the minimum amount of money cities are mandated to give to schools. He also suggested the school board explain the maximum class sizes allowed in the teachers’ contract.

The Schedule

The Board of Education is scheduled to vote on a spending plan Feb. 25. The budget is to be given to the city by March 1. The city must act on the budget by May 31.