Seymour school board chairman Chris Champagne at the podium while town finance director Jason Vieira looks on.
SEYMOUR – The Seymour Board of Finance got its first look Wednesday (Feb. 26) at the Board of Education’s budget fiscal year 2025 – 2026, which is $3.1 million, or 7.9 percent, more than the current school budget.
In Seymour, the school board adopts a budget, and then sends it to the board of finance for review. In the spring voters get the final say.
The school board budget totals $42.9 million. Click here to read it.
Seymour Board of Education Chairman Chris Champagne, along with school Superintendent Susan Compton and business manager Salvatore Bucci gave an overview of the budget and laid out what’s driving the increase.
Champagne said the increase is attributed, in part, to a combination of teacher pay raises, per contract negotiations ($756,316) and non-certified staff pay raises ($160,823). Teacher salaries and benefits comprise the largest chunk (78 percent) of the overall budget.
A spike in employee health insurance ($957,746); tuition and transportation ($129,000); out-of-district special education tuition ($75,000) and retiree longevity payments ($129,639) are also driving the increase, Champagne said.
The budget also includes $473,949 for new staffing positions. Three of the new positions are state-mandated, according to school officials, and include an English language learner teacher for the elementary schools ($118,719); a special education/pre‑K teacher ($118,719), and a school climate coordinator for the middle school ($3,172).
The other new positions are a school security officer for the high school ($43,000); a social worker shared with the elementary schools ($118,719) and a paraprofessional ($48,962).
Several new stipend positions are also included, which school officials said are geared to enhance students’ experience beyond the classroom.
Those positions are an afterschool activities advisor for Bungay School ($5,617); four track and field coaches for the middle school ($9,868); a math team advisor for the middle school ($3,172) and a library media makerspace/STEAM lab ($4,000).
School officials said they need a 6 percent increase to fund a “level services” budget, which keeps things status quo.
“There is nobody in this room that wants to be coming here talking about a 7.9 percent increase, but given the historical trends, given the challenges that our students face, our staff faces and the support we need to give them, we think it is reasonable,” said board member Kristen Harmeling.
While the budget includes a projected 20 percent increase for health insurance, the district is still shopping around to find the best health insurance rate. If they can come closer to a 12 to 15 percent increase, the overall budget would be reduced by about $400,000.
Resident John Lombardo, the only resident to speak about the budget during Wednesday’s meeting, said a 7.9 percent increase isn’t likely to fly with voters.
“People will see that 7.9 percent and see sticker shock,” he said.
Last year, it took two tries to get voters to approve the current $39.8 million school budget, which carried a 4.2 percent increase over the previous year’s budget.
The finance board will wrap up its meetings with department heads at 7 p.m. March 3 at town hall with the town clerk, assessor, tax collector, library and registrar of voters’ budget requests.
First Selectwoman Annmarie Drugonis will present her budget at 7 p.m. March 5.
The finance board will do budget deliberations throughout March and ultimately approve a budget to bring to the annual public hearing. Voters get the final say and will head to the polls this spring to decide the school and town budgets at a referendum.
