The Derby school board will vote tonight (Tuesday, March 2) on a $18.5 million spending plan that includes a spending increase of about 6.6 percent — or $1.2 million — over the current budget.
The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Derby Middle School cafetorium.
Click here for our past stories on the proposed Derby school budget, including an accounting of what district officials say is driving the increase.
Energy Savings?
The board met for about an hour Monday to discuss the 2010-11 spending plan — and immediately trimmed $178,052 from their request to the city.
The savings are estimates attributed to the installation of turbines at the new Derby Middle School. The turbines are supposed to generate extra electricity for the high school, where the aging electrical system ran about $100,000 over budget last year.
School officials are hoping the new turbines will save the district $178,052 — however, the turbines, as of Monday, still aren’t working, so the district is relying on estimates provided by engineers.
Money For Athletics Added
At the suggestion of school board chairman Kenneth Marcucio, Sr., members of the school board added $64,483 to the budget to fund sports programs at the high school and the middle that were cut last year.
The money pays for coaches, officials and transportation — but not supplies. Money for supplies will come from gate receipts sold at athletic events.
Schools Superintendent Stephen Tracy will check with district business manager Pamela Festa Mangini and athletic director Joseph Orazietti to make sure the $64,483 total is accurate.
“I’d like to go downtown with this,” Marcucio said, a reference to Derby City Hall, where the school board will be making their case to the city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation.
Legal Fees
The board also added another $20,000 to the budget for legal fees, at the suggestion of Marcucio.
The district spent a lot of money on lawyers this year, for everything from union arbitration to student disciplinary hearings. Tracy advised they’ll probably need the lawyers again next year, when several union contracts come up for discussion.
School Nurse, Maintenance
The board briefly discussed spending more money for another nurse at the middle school.
Currently, one nurse splits her time between the two schools, which share a campus. Adding a nurse would have cost about $36,000 plus benefits.
Several members said the middle school needs its own nurse, but the board decided to revisit the issue during the next school year.
Marcucio asked twice about the district’s maintenance budget during Monday’s meeting.
He said he wanted to see if reduced by 10 percent. The maintenance budget is about $354,000.
Marcucio said he wanted to hold off on any new equipment purchases for the maintenance department (note: at a meeting a day after this article was published, school officials said there are no new equipment requests in the maintenance budget).
Going Forward
Assuming the school board adopts the budget tonight, the budget’s next step is at the Derby tax board.
School officials know a 6.6 increase won’t be an easy sell because of the economy.
Tracy said at this time last year the budget arrived at the tax board’s table carrying a 7.6 percent increase.
“It’s likely that as the season goes on, we’ll be asked to make reductions,” Tracy said.
Jodi Chevarella, the school board’s vice-chairwoman, was not sure where any more reductions would come from.
“I think I know everything and I’m ready to vote,” she said. “There’s not a lot of wiggle room, unfortunately.”
Tax Board Preview?
New spending in the proposed budget includes $90,000 to hire a curriculum coordinator.
At a meeting of the tax board last week, chairwoman Judith Szewczyk questioned the need for the position.
After Monday’s school board, meeting, Tracy spoke with the Valley Indy about the position.
“Two years ago we eliminated the assistant superintendent’s position from the budget as part of the effort to reduce everything we could. I don’t think a month has gone by that someone from the school board has not regretted the loss of that position,” Tracy said.
The curriculum director pays a lower salary than that of an assistant superintendent.
“(The curriculum director) would be responsible for making sure we have instructional plans for all the different subject areas that are consistent with state standards and consistent with what is measured on the Connecticut Mastery tests and the high school CAPT tests,” Tracy said.
The curriculum director would also supervise teacher training and assessing student progress within the district.
“We would have a sense of who’s doing well and who needs help, so that we can direct our resources to those youngsters so they can improve,” Tracy said.
