The Chester Board of Education approved a proposed $8.1 million budget, a $291,499 or 5.66 percent increase from the current spending, for the 2022-’23 school year at its March 24 meeting. The budget will now move to public presentation before the Board of Selectman and Board of Finance on Wednesday, April 6 as its first setp toward a May referendum.

Salaries account for the majority of the Chester Elementary School budget, with a proposed $215,765, or 6.66 percent increase from current year. This accounts in total for $3,456,891, or 63.53 percent of the overall budget, and includes regular and extra compensatory wages for employees.

A requested $1,284,501 has been allocated to teacher’s salaries, making up a $52,504, or 4.26, increase from the current school year, and is the result of a proposal for an additional classroom teacher, according to Superintendent of Schools Brian White.

There is also an increase for coaches, mentors and others leading extra-curricular activities, with a $2,452, or 9.88 percent boost. The paraeducators salary line will drop $4,127 or 1.57 percent from the current year, and custodian services will see a 0.26 percent decrease in salary as well.

Despite these cuts, the overall increase in salaries is primarily due to a budgeted $69,810 increase in salaries that are under negotiation, a figure not found in budgets from the previous three school years, and is a trend also seen in budgets for Deep River and Essex. According White, the figure reflects the potential impact of six labor contracts that were under negotiations during the budget processes for all three towns in the district, resulting in a delay for potential new salary increases.

In the category of employee benefits, the second-largest portion of the budget at $1,155,792 or 21.24 percent of overall spending, there is a 2.24 percent increase from the current year. Health insurance has remained unchanged at a rate of $688,664 funded. However,allocations to the Health Insurance Reserve Fund have dropped 100 percent from the current year’s rate of $19,401, while the benefits for unemployment compensation and worker’s compensation insurance are unchanged at $6,500 and $22,504, respectively.

“The reduction in health insurance was attributed to, in part, our experience during the past year,” said White. “Going back three years ago, we had a low balance in our insurance reserve. One of the strategies we employed to increase the reserve was we budgeted a supplemented amount to the insurance reserve as a way of reestablishing it. This year, because our reserve levels are healthier, we no longer had a need to budget for that additional reserve contribution. As a result, that reduced the budgeted amount for insurance next year.”

Several programs of education are seeing reductions in instruction materials, including language arts with a drop of $353, or 3.76 percent, the reading program with a $3,200 or 80 percent drop in funding, technology education with a drop of 22.22 percent, and a drop in materials for special education of 16.62 percent.

The budget points out the increased need for supporting the mental health student that can be everyday issues, as well as those exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic. One of the priorities for the district carrying over from the current year is social emotional learning, with its main focus on the mental health of students.

The budget cites mental health as a critical focus in light of the many stressors of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and that pathways for improving the emotional health of students is an integral part of performance.

The referendum for the combined town and schools budget is currently scheduled for Tuesday, May 24 at 7 p.m. at Chester Town Hall. For updates on all future schools budget actions, visit www.reg4.k12.ct.us/district.