Although the numbers are likely to change, a proposed $8,448,348 total budget, which reflected a 5.89 percent, or $469,638 increase over current year, was discussed at the first budget workshop of the Supervision District Committee, held Dec. 16.

It’s unclear how much each town will pay for the shared services in the budget, as the enrollment data, which is used for the Average Daily Membership calculation, was omitted for the first round of budget discussions.

This was due to concerns at the administrative level of the Regional 4 School District regarding the accuracy of those enrollment figures, according to Superintendent of Schools Brian White.

He said that he anticipates sharing enrollment data and the subsequent ADM calculations at the next scheduled workshop, on Tuesday, Jan. 12.

At the Dec. 16 workshop, most of the proposed increases were in the first two budget categories, which represents approximately 80 percent of the total budget.

There was a proposed $417,719 increase, or 8.61 percent, in salaries over the current year’s $4,849,242 total and a proposed $35,339 increase, or 2.15 percent, in employee benefits over the current year’s $1,639,943.

Although the bulk of the 8.61 percent increase in the salaries category “is due to contractual related increases,” White said at the start of the workshop, part of the proposed increase is due to a requested new director of teaching and learning position, with an estimated salary of $155,000 along with a clerical support position with an estimated salary of $68,000.

Several members of the Supervision District Committee swiftly rejected the idea of a new position at the administrative level, citing the school community’s potential concerns over funding a new position in the context of declining enrollments.

After pointing out that the proposal “sounds a bit dead on arrival,” committee member John Stack asked for the reasoning behind the request.

White discussed the complexity and increased workload of having five distinct boards of education, especially with state level reporting and unfunded state education mandates.

“We do five times the work of a system of our size by virtue of the fact that we have to report on five separate entities,” he said.

With the departure of Kristina Martineau, the former assistant superintendent, White said it was an opportunity to “rethink aspects” of the position with a focus on “human resources as well as some of the other operational areas of the system.”

A new director of teaching and learning, who could offer K through 12 support in the areas of instruction, curriculum, and assessment, would help “ensure that the teaching and learning work of the system remains prioritized and supported adequately,” said White.

After White agreed to omit the placeholders associated with the new director of teaching and learning position, he highlighted other key changes in the salaries category.

Another proposed change included consolidation into the district budget of $90,000 in teacher salaries for the extended school year programs; those salaries are currently located in the individual school board budgets.

An additional $40,000 for that program was requested “to support increased need for that summer school program particularly coming off of this year, understanding that there is going to be learning gaps for a number of students,” said White.

Since the program is “a service that benefits all students, all systems,” said White, the administration felt that it was appropriate to pull all salaries for the program into the Supervision District budget, so that expenditures were easier to track.

In addition, under salaries, the finance director annual salary was increased to $150,000, which was made to the current year’s budget last spring; a new $5,000 stipend position was requested, to help English as a second language learners; and the 10-month work positions of the information technology technicians, who currently do not work over the summer, would be increased to 12-month positions.

An increase in the pay for substitute teachers was also discussed, with a request for more information and data to make adjustments to this line item for the next budget workshop.

Employee Benefits

In the category of employee benefits, White discussed a requested 2.15 percent or $35,339 increase from the current year, which is due primarily to contractual agreements.

For health insurance, which saw an 18 percent increase last year, there is “essentially a zero percent change and a zero percent increase,” said White.

Later in the meeting, he added that the district’s health insurance consultant is recommending an appropriation to the health insurance reserve fund, in an amount similar to that which was done last fiscal year, to continue a re-establishment of the fund.

Other Budget Categories

A reduction of $11,228, or a decrease of 3.54 percent was proposed under the professional and technical services category, with White highlighting a reduction in the need for outside financial services and professional development programs. An increase to the legal and audit services was reflected in this category.

There was also a proposed reduction of $21,656 or 53.53 percent from the current year under purchased property services, which helps fund leases and repair and maintenance work.

The zeroing out of the general tech, central office, and non-instructional repairs was met with some skepticism.

“We’ve run into serious problems in Region 4 with deferred maintenance and not fixing things and letting it go until a $5,000 problem becomes a $50,000 problem,” said DG Fitton, secretary and treasurer of the Supervision District Committee. “I wouldn’t want to be penny wise and pound foolish with this one and zero that line out entirely.”

After some discussion related to repair and maintenance needs, White said that “a number in line with past needs” will be brought forth at the next workshop.

The remaining budget categories of supplies, property, and other objects saw minor adjustments, with the “other purchased services” category reflecting a 4.89 percent, or $49,213 contractual increase for school bus transportation.

An updated version of the budget will be discussed at the next budget workshop of the Supervision District Committee on Jan. 12.