An image from Tuesday’s Derby tax board meeting.
DERBY — School officials told the tax board Tuesday there’s nothing grandiose in their request for a $1 million increase in funding. It’s just the dollar amount that is needed to keep the schools going after two years of flat funding from the city.
About $640,000 of the increase goes toward salary increases driven by previously-approved contractual obligations, while another $384,000 is connected to special education costs, said Jim Gildea, the chairman of the Derby Board of Education.
“We are not adding anything in that’s fat. We are not adding in anything that is extra. We are simply trying to move the program forward and to maintain the program that we have,” he said.
The dollar amount represents a 5.9 percent increase from the budget currently in place. But Gildea, during a Tuesday meeting of the tax board online, said the number is reasonable after two years of 0 percent increases.
“When you balance that with the fact that we’ve had no increase for two years, I think that’s just an incredibly reasonable figure. I think it is a responsible figure. I think it is a fair figure,” Gildea said. “I think if you balance that over three years, there’s not any business that could say they’ve grown at less than two percent a year.”
About 80 people attended Tuesday’s tax board meeting, which was held online using the Zoom video conferencing platform. Gildea noted the large amount of people watching.
Tara Hyder, a member of the Derby Board of Education, said that Derby is lucky to have Superintendent Matthew Conway at the helm, especially given the fact no new dollars have come from the city.
“We’re fortunate to have him and his skill set of obtaining grant money year after year, and that’s really keeping us afloat,” Hyder said. “Just know that that’s not common, and it would be worse if we didn’t have that skill set and Dr. Conway.”
Hyder also addressed the fact that no additional funding has come from the city in two years.
“It’s just not fair to put the burden of Derby’s financial issues on the backs of our children. It’s just wrong,” Hyder said.
She noted that had the board given two percent increases over the last two years, this 5.9 percent increase would not have been as large.
Derby schools get additional funding from the state because it is an “alliance district.” It’s grant money meant to help the lowest-performing school districts in the State of Connecticut.
However, the money is granted with the specific requirement that the money can’t be used to replace local dollars that go from cities to the schools. It is extra funding to be used for school improvement efforts.
The total proposed budget from the school district totals $19,716,316. There are 1,246 students enrolled in Derby schools.
Click here for the school budget.
The Derby tax board (formally know as the Board of Taxation and Apportionment) is scheduled to meet again 6 p.m. Thursday, May 28.
Its members will continue to review budget requests from city departments. On Thursday the discussion will focus on expense and revenue projections. Click here for an agenda.
