So far, so good for the proposed 2013 – 2014 Derby school budget.
The school board is requesting a 1.9 percent — or $304,719 — increase over the budget now in place. The total proposed school budget is $16.1 million.
The school board is making the funding request to the Derby Board of Apportionment and Taxation, informally called the tax board.
The school budget process in Derby has been contentious the last three years, with school officials often butting heads with Mayor Anthony Staffieri, who has complained the school doesn’t control their spending.
This year, at least so far, the budget process has been smooth sailing.
New Derby Superintendent Matthew Conway made his budget presentation to the tax board April 2, saying the only new spending in his budget is to cover raises being given to school employees by previously negotiated union contracts.
The school had been talking about spending $200,000 to upgrade school security in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. As of April 2, it appears the school board will ask the city to fund that item through a request to the city’s capital planning committee.
The improvements include the construction of school entry vestibules for receiving visitors, new classroom door locks, new security cameras and other items.
Click here for a previous story on the proposed Derby school budget.
School board chairman Ken Marcucio, Sr. told the tax board last week his board is watching the bottom line.
“To use an old cliché, we are committed to giving you the most bang for every buck we get,” he said.
In fact, after the school officials finished their presentation and departed, members of the tax board said that they felt this would be an easy municipal budget to decide on, because all of the city departments and the school district have only asked for modest budget increases.
The tax board will hear the final budget requests from city department supervisors at a workshop on April 9.
School Budget Details
Student enrollment is projected to rise by 65 students next school year, but Conway said the school board and administrators found ways to avoid increasing staff to account for it.
The only staff increase was a proposal to hire an additional social worker for the high school and middle school.
Currently, the two schools share one social worker, but the number of students needing that professional’s attention has risen to over 70, which Conway said is too high a caseload for a single social worker.
By adding a second position, Conway said the social workers could focus on keeping students from dropping out or moving to other towns. If successful, that should have a positive effect on test scores and reduce the achievement gap, he said.
He said the administrators at the high school and middle school would wait until the new school year starts to decide how they would share the new full-time social worker.
The Derby public schools also employs another social worker who works in the city’s two elementary schools.
Conway said the city’s four schools would receive nearly identical portions of the proposed school budget.
He showed a slide that indicated the breakdown as: Derby High School 21.9 percent, Derby Middle School 21.2 percent, Bradley Elementary School 21.6 percent and Irving Elementary School 26.1 percent.
The remaining 9.2 percent is allocated for district-wide expenses.
