The Region 4 School District passed its budget for the 2022-’23 fiscal year by referendum on May 3. Across the three towns as part of the district, the vote came at an overwhelming majority to pass the budget, with a voting ratio of 238 “Yes” votes to 68 “No” votes.

At referendum, Chester passed the budget with 72 “Yes” votes versus 16 “No” votes, Deep River saw 73 in favor and 37 against, and Essex had 93 “Yes” to 15 “No.”

The approved budget and its numbers for all schools as part of the Reg. 4 district are factored into the individual budgets for each town’s elementary schools, which will be one of many parts of the budgets the town will send to their own public votes this month.

The budget for all Reg. 4 schools totals $21,685,239 for the next fiscal year. This is a 1.15 decrease, or a $252,883 cut in spending, from the current year’s budget. Staff salaries at $11,264,218 make up 51.94 percent of the budget, while employee benefits at $4,085,438 make up 18.84 percent of the budget. While salaries saw a 2.78 percent increase from the previous year, the total amount of employee benefits represents a 1.05 percent cut in that area, or a decrease in spending of $43,190.

“Regarding teacher salaries, all of our teachers, regardless of employment, work under a single contract. This means that any budgeted increase in contractual salaries applies to each board of education’s budget,” said Superintendent of Schools Brian White.

As part of the budgeting process for each town, the approved figure will be factored into the final budgets of the towns in the district. The towns of Deep River, Chester, and Essex, put their combined town and schools budget to vote this month. Essex held its Annual Budget Meeting on May 9. Deep River puts its budget to vote at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, May 16. Chester voters can weigh in at its Annual Town Meeting on Tuesday, May 24.

Find details on all the proposed budgets at Zip06.com.