School Superintendent Stephen Tracy’s proposed budget for the next school year was like a splash of cold water on the Derby community.
A 7 percent spending increase and nine layoffs, including six teachers?
The elimination of full-day kindergarten?
What’s going on here?
Click here to read everything we’ve published so far on the proposed 2011 – 2012 Derby school budget.
Tracy sat down with the Valley Indy Tuesday to answer questions about the spending plan — and he was blunt.
The school district, after being under-funded for years, is at a cross roads, Tracy said. If residents aren’t willing or can’t afford to pay for schools, it’s time to seriously consider consolidation or dissolve the district and look to regionalize, Tracy said.
In fact, a long-range planning committee is researching those options, among others, and will report to the school board later this year.
Here are the first of several videos the Valley Indy will be posting during the next few days.
In the first, five-minute video, we asked Tracy to describe why his proposed budget increases spending while laying off staff members — and whether this painful approach has become the norm in Derby. Article continues after the video.
In the next two videos, we asked Tracy to expand upon the ideas the district’s long-term planning committee is exploring.
Check back Thursday morning, when we’ll ask Tracy about the decision to eliminate full-day kindergarten — and why Derby teachers are getting raises in this economic climate.
