The North Haven Board of Education (BOE) has tallied up the numbers for its proposed budget for the 2023-’24 academic calendar year.

The main drivers of the budget include hiring new staff for academics and the athletic department, as well as routine expenditures for learning and classroom supplies. The latter remains unchanged by request of front-line staff from the current year’s budget, according to the budget.

The current year’s academic budget expires on June 30.

Salaries for current and new full-time and part-time staff dominate the budget, making up approximately 89% of total expenditures. Budgeted for the next year is $1,544,274 for all salaried employees with North Haven Public Schools (NHPS), with a total proposal of $36,475,795 for the ‘23-24 academic year. This represents a 4.42 percent increase from the current year’s budget.

Additional staff for academics includes the addition of three new elementary schools in the district and a new reading interventionist at North Haven Middle School (NHMS). The latter position will bring staffing levels back to pre-pandemic levels, according to NHPS Superintendent Patrick Stirk.

“Somebody retired back before the pandemic hit us. We didn’t fill it; we just reallocated what we had. But we want to bring it back now that we’re back [in] full force, and we need that support to close the learning gap,” said Stirk.

In athletics, a new assistant golf coach at North Haven High School and a new athletic trainer are two new positions added to the budget.

A notable addition to North Haven athletics in the budget is the start of a volleyball team as part of unified sports at NHMS. Stirk said the program was originally meant to be supported through a grant. Unable to find a facilitator; nonetheless, it was put in the budget “to make sure that it’s in play,” said Stirk.

In the category of technology, its line items are seeing a proposed 10.65% overall increase, including a 7.7% increase for software-related hardware. According to Howard Wardlow, the director of finance for NHPS, the increase will support the use of in-school technology such as Chromebooks for student use.

In the category of tuition, there is a proposed 30% decrease in the category or a decrease of $2,536,459 to 1,944,600. These funds are related specifically to providing more services for special education students at district schools, as opposed to the more expensive option of supporting those same students to go to other schools out-of-district.

“What you’re seeing is a decrease in the student we are actually outplacing. We’re bringing the services in-house; we’re bringing in more services to the district. So services that these students need, everything’s being handled in-district. Special ed services [are] much cheaper to do it in-district than it is to send it out and pay $125[,000] or $250,000 in tuition,” said Wardlow.

Stirk said the primary reason for that decrease is because “students who live in North Haven need to be educated in North Haven; that’s the most important part. This is their district,” he said.

“They belong here more than anyone else does, so if we do our best to keep them here and provide services in-district, there are times when we cannot, but we are trying to limit that number as much as possible,” Stirk elaborated.

The BOE will also continue its self-funded health insurance program. This type of system means that the district assumes all claims risk while eliminating the profit margin.

“We have them as our provider,” said Wardlow.” We have to reserve funds; we almost become like the insurance company.

The town currently has $2.6 million in its reserve pool for all potential claims by district employees, according to Wardlow.

“It saves us money in the long run, but we do take on the risk of claims,” he said.

A referendum for adopting the budget will be held on Tuesday, May 16, with a public hearing on Monday, May 15. If adopted, it will go into effect on July 1 as part of North Haven’s overall town budget.