The Region 4 Board of Education has approved its $20,572,675 proposed 2019-’20 budget, a $519,994 or 2.59 percent increase over the previous year. The proposal will now be passed along for a Tuesday, May 7 town vote.

Salaries and benefits account for $12,662,478 or 61 percent of the budget, with fixed costs of $7,144,646 accounting for 35 percent of the budget.

“I think we did a good job with this budget,” said Region 4 Board member D.G. Fitton at the Joint Boards of Education meeting on April 4. “I wish we were not up against a substantial salary increase, but I think we have acted responsibly and we have worked hard to create a budget that we feel works.”

The average daily membership (ADM) in the three towns shows an increase in Chester of 1.33 percent over the previous year, an increase of 1.34 percent in Deep River, and a decrease of 2.67 percent in Essex, which decreases the Essex portion of the total budget.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ruth Levy noted that there is a reduction in fees in this budget for children who are going to magnet schools.

“We are seeing more students stay at Valley and/or return to Valley from magnet schools, presumably because we are offering more attractive, competitive programs here, which is great news,” said Levy.

In addition, the budget represents the removal of two network technical positions, which have now been consolidated and put under the same umbrella of the supervision district so they can be shared by all three towns, saving money.

At an April 1 public hearing, the board heard public concerns about its proposal cutting funding for the Advanced Placement (AP) testing at the Valley Regional High School and the virtual high school (VHS) classes.

“My daughter’s friends are making academic decisions based on ability to pay. That’s not right,” said resident Mike Spanner. “We need to get together as adults, and problem solve, and decide what is priority. If there need to be cuts made in the budget, don’t cut it out of the students’ opportunities.”

“If we take away funding for these important programs and put that burden on the students and parents, we are increasing the economic discrepancies between the rich and poor,” said Dan Morrissey.

On April 4, the Region 4 Board restored line items for $8,500 for the AP classes (which will pay for 50 percent of the AP testing cost fee for students who are eligible) and $16,500 for the VHS classes; the move keeps funding at 2018-’19 levels.

This year, the Region 4 Board held seven budget workshops to iron out the specifics of this budget, an increase from the previous years’ three workshops.

Board member Michelle Grow said the goal of the extra workshops was to gather public input and hear from the residents.

“This is a responsible transparent budget that supports our mission and meets the changing needs of students as well as educational excellence,” said Board Chair Jennifer Clark.