(Left to right) Derby school board chairman Jim Gildea and schools Superintendent Matthew Conway.
DERBY – Derby Public Schools Superintendent Matthew Conway said March 18 that the school district should be able to cover a $594,669 spending increase in its proposed budget for the next school year.
“Over the past couple of months, things have gone up and down, but I think we are in a great place and have a plan for funding this budget moving forward that will hopefully not require any increase in our mill rate,” Conway said.
Conway made his statement during a budget meeting of the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation, also known as the tax board. Its elected members approve an annual budget.
The Derby Board of Education adopted a budget of $21,043,120 with a 2.91 percent spending increase in February, and then sent it to the tax board to review.
The Big Picture
Last year the mill rate in Derby went up 4.6 mills. That added anywhere from $500 to $1,000 on tax bills, depending on property assessments.
Mayor Joseph DiMartino’s administration said last year that previous budgets from his predecessor contained bad estimates, leaving the budget with a $2 million hole.
In addition to raising taxes, the city used federal COVID-19 aid to bail itself out.
This year DiMartino asked all departments to keep their proposed budgets flat so that taxpayers would not get another tax increase.
How To Cover The School Budget Increase
Conway said the school district is forecasting a surplus in its current budget, which ends June 30. He said $409,000 from that surplus will be put toward the $594,669 increase the district is seeking. The use of the surplus in that manner is allowed by school districts under state law.
Next, Conway said Gov. Ned Lamont and state lawmakers recently made a deal that saw the state allocate $40 million to be used immediately to help offset costs connected to special education. Budgets cover two-year periods, and Conway said the governor has promised to include another $40 million in the second year of a budget cycle that starts in June.
Conway said Derby schools are getting about $156,000 from that deal. He suggested that money could also be put toward the proposed $594,669 increase the district is seeking.
Finally, Conway said he expects Derby schools to receive an increase in state-funded ECS (education cost sharing) alliance district money. Taking about $30,000 from ECS would cover the rest of the funding request from the school district.
Members of the tax board did not weigh in directly on Conway’s plan.
Superintendent Conway addresses the Derby tax board.
Number Of Students ‘Outplaced’ Is Dropping
Conway also said Derby schools are in a different situation compared to neighboring towns, where school districts are asking for funding increases anywhere from 4 to 7 percent.
Special education – specifically money connected to what administrators call “out of district” placements – is a key factor, educators said.
Federal law says that a student with learning challenges that can’t be met locally has the right to be taught outside the local district, such as in a program like ACES, or at private institutions.
Tuition and transportation is paid for by the student’s home district. Educators in Connecticut have argued that the costs, especially tuition, are rising too quickly, making it tough to budget for.
In Derby, the average cost for a student placed outside of the district was $92,352 during the 2022 – 2023 school year. This year that cost is about $151,000 per outplaced student, Conway said.
That’s a 64.5 increase in two fiscal years, and Conway said it’s a factor in why school districts in neighboring towns are asking for more money.
However, Conway said the number of outplaced students in Derby is expected to decrease by about 10 students next year. The superintendent cautioned this area of the budget is a wildcard, as Derby has a high turnover of families moving in and out of the district.
Education Spending
Here is how the school budget breaks down the $594,669 spending increase:
Bradley School: -$83,551
Central Office: +$71,190
Derby HS: +$344,262
DHS athletics: +$477,773
Districtwide: +$89,538
Derby MS: +$195,380
DMS athletics: +$9,858
Irving: +$39,842
Maintenance: +$12,110
Special education: -$1,30,572 (see explanations above)
St. Mary-St. Michael: +$1,184
Tech services: -$32,345
Conway said while the numbers show a steep decrease for Bradley Elementary School and a steep increase for Derby High School, that’s not necessarily the case.
Derby schools juggle categorizing staff positions as grant funded or funded from the operational budget.
Ideally, all core teaching positions are funded out of the operating budget. Non-core positions such as interventionists, tutors, instructional support are often funded by grants.
Conway said the decrease at Bradley isn’t necessarily a true decrease. Funding for some non-core positions is being moved from the operating budget to grant funding. Bradley is also seeing a decrease in some utility and maintenance costs.
The high school is seeing funding from grant positions being moved into the operating budget. In addition, one experienced teacher being paid at a higher salary replaced a less experienced teacher who left the district.
In total, the budget moves eight positions totalling $476,177 from the operating budget to grant funding, while moving a separate seven teaching positions worth $450,120 from grant funding to the operating budget.
The high school is seeing increases in electric bills because a turbine system at the middle that feeds electricity to the high school needs to be repaired, Conway said.
Overall enrollment is projected to dip during the next school year. Right now there are 1,294 students in the district. Next year that enrollment is expected to be 1,260 students, according to the school budget made available on the city’s website.
The decrease is because of the change in state law that allows students to enter kindergarten later.
Salaries and benefits make up $14.3 million, or 68 percent, of the total school budget. Spending on salaries alone is up 4 percent, or $545,923, on a budget-to-budget basis.
Conway said teachers are in the fourth year of a four-year union contract. Teachers are getting a raise of about 3 percent, though the precise percentage varies on experience.
In the 2021 – 2022 budget, Derby schools received an increase of $1. School officials had asked for an increase of $629,000.
In the 2022 – 2023 budget, the schools received a $100,000 increase, though the initial ask was around $900,000.
