The Derby school board will have to reduce its requested budget by $485,894 in order to meet the $15.4 million allocated by the city’s tax board May 24.
To do that, the school board is considering eliminating another teaching position, eliminating a maintenance position, switching gym teachers to part-time, eliminating a security guard position from the middle school and cutting professional development.
This year has been a complicated budget process for Derby Public Schools, as Mayor Anthony Staffieri announced May 24 that the city would be transferring the costs for the school district’s health benefits over to the city side of the budget.
The move took roughly $3 million out of the school side of the school budget. The hope is that the move will save Derby $1 million a year on health insurance.
The tax board gave the school district about $15.5 million — a 3 percent increase over the current budget, minus health care costs.
Superintendent Stephen Tracy went over a long list of suggested reductions with the school board Wednesday.
The school board is scheduled to meet Tuesday, June 6 at 6:30 p.m. in Derby Middle School to possibly take action on Tracy’s $485,894 proposed cuts, which include (in addition to four teaching positions already eliminated):
$251,000 from district-wide accounts, including the elimination of a maintenance worker’s position to save $30,000
$145,000 from Derby High School including:
- $30,000 from athletics
- $30,000 — salary for a business teacher
- $50,000 that was slated to go toward fixing areas identified in a recent NEASC report
- $23,000 by making a full-time gym teacher’s job part-time
$28,394 from Derby Middle School
- $22,000 by eliminating the security guard’s position.
$30,700 from Bradley School
- $15,000 by eliminating a para-professional position
- $25,000 by switching a technology teaching position from full-time to part-time
+ $25,000 — Tracy is recommending the school put money aside to hire a teacher at either Bradley or Irving if enrollment increases during the next school year.
$30,700 from Irving School
- $25,000 by switching a tech teacher from full-time to part-time
