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05/11/2021 12:46 PMThe Regional 4 School District’s $21,938,122 budget for the 2021–’22 school year, representing an increase of $774,381, or 3.66 percent, passed by a vote of 289 to 140 on May 4.
The citizens of Chester and Essex overwhelmingly supported the budget, while those in Deep River did not. There was relatively low voter turnout in all three towns compared with prior years.
In Chester, 113 citizens voted in favor of the budget while 49 citizens voted against it. In Essex, 119 citizens voted in favor of the budget while 26 voted against it. A majority did not support the budget in Deep River, with 65 citizens voting against the budget and 57 voting in favor of it.
After accounting for revenues, the total budget is allocated across all three towns using a census formula. This formula calculates the number of school age youth eligible to attend John Winthrop Middle School and Valley Regional High School based on town of residence.
Chester’s allocation is $5,127,542, an increase of $19,452 or 0.38 percent over current year; Deep River’s allocation is $7,564,393, an increase of $70,922 or 0.95 percent over current year; and Essex’s allocation is $8,960,506, an increase of $647,813, or 7.79 percent over current year.
At the district’s annual meeting on May 4, Region 4 Board of Education Chair Kate Sandmann spoke in favor of the budget.
“I feel that supporting this budget is really supporting the schools and supporting the programming we have in place now and the needs of the students who are in our schools,” said Sandmann. “The budget, really, there are no new initiatives. We’ve been as prudent as we can, responsible and transparent, and it supports our mission statement, our Region 4 mission statement.”
With the approval of the Supervision District and Region 4 budgets, each town in the district will include its Region 4 allocation in its proposed education budget, which will go to vote along with the town-side spending proposals. Chester votes on Wednesday, May 19 at 7 p.m. in the gymnasium of Chester Elementary School, 23 Ridge Road (see story on page 8). Deep River votes on Monday, May 17 at 7:30 p.m. (see story at Zip06.com). Essex voted on May 10 (after press time).