The Ansonia Board of Education has asked the city for a 3.49 percent increase for its budget in 2011 – 2012.
The Board of Education voted this week to pass along the $26.9 million request to the city. The budget proposal is $911,000 more than the current year’s budget.
The main drivers of the requested increase are from contract obligations and health insurance costs, according to Superintendent Carol Merlone.
Increases
Like several districts, it will cost more next year to do the same things Ansonia is doing this year.
Salary and benefits costs will increase by $677,335, according to the budget presentation. The district is using a federal Education Jobs Fund Grant to offset about $256,000 of that increase, according to district business manager James Gaskins.
Transportation costs for students are also increasing by about $46,000.
And heat and utilities have gone up as well, according to the budget proposal.
Requested Services
The budget proposal includes about $163,000 for staffing at the high school and two elementary schools.
The proposal asks for money to hire a math teacher and math lab teacher at Ansonia High School to help Ansonia keep up with increasing high school graduation requirements from the state.
“We’re in dire need of a math teacher,” Merlone said.
The proposal also includes funding for a part-time nurse at Prendergast School, where 800 students currently share one nurse.
And about $15,600 is requested to pay for part-time custodial work when needed, Merlone said. The district has laid off two custodians in the past four years, and often has more work than the remaining custodians can handle, she said.
Working Together
Merlone said school administrators originally asked for much more — about an 8.6 percent increase.
She sat down with all the principals and they brainstormed places to trim. Because the district has been working on adding programs to the elementary schools in the past couple of years, Merlone said the administrators agreed that the high school should receive available funds for its needs.
“We worked well together, and really looked at it from a district standpoint,” Merlone said.
Merlone said her goal was to present a request that had no more than a 3.5 percent increase.
“I thought that during these tough economic times, it’s really unrealistic to go to a town with more than that,” said Merlone, who lives in Ansonia.
“It’s not a wish list,” Merlone said. “We brought it down to what is really needed. There isn’t really anything extra in there.”
Last year the board of education, after debates among taxpayers, tax board members and aldermen, received a $500,000 increase.
The proposal will now move to the Board of Aldermen, which will review it before passing it along to the Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
