Wallingford school board to seek 3.56% increase

As published in the Record Journal on Saturday February 23, 2013

By Eric Vo
Record-Journal staff
evo@record-journal.com
(203) 317-2235
Twitter:@ericvoRJ

WALLINGFORD – The Board of Education is expected to propose a 3.56 percent increase in the 2013-14 school budget to the mayor and Town Council.

Board members will vote on the budget during Monday night’s Board of Education meeting. Despite some differences, Board of Education Chairwoman Roxane McKay said she expects the panel to approve the 3.56 percent increase, which would raise overall education spending to $92,766,109.

The increase will maintain existing programs and fund items from School Superintendent Salvatore Menzo’s five-year strategic plan, including school security.

The school board asked Menzo and administrators to create a list of items from the strategic plan and federal and state mandates, McKay said. These items were then ranked in order of importance and cost.

According to Menzo and his staff, the most important item is security, specifically controlling access to the schools. Also at the top is preparing for a new teacher evaluation system.

Funding everything on Menzo’s list would require a 4.09 percent increase in the budget and $93,234,055 in spending overall.

During the school board’s Operations Committee meeting Wednesday, board members went through the list of 89 items and shared their opinions on what they felt was a “reasonable percentage” to propose to the Town Council, McKay said.

If the mayor and Town Council approve the 3.56 percent increase, approve the 3.56 percent increase, the district would be able to fund 68 items on Menzo’s list, including updating security, the new teacher evaluation program and developing new curriculum for all grade levels.

The remaining 21 items on the list, which would cost $467,946, could be funded with money not spent during the current fiscal year.

“The board is estimating there will be half a million dollars in unencumbered funds by the end of the year,” Menzo said.

While McKay said using this money would be a logical choice, the board will ultimately discuss how things get funded. But before members get to that point, McKay said the board has been focused on coming to an agreement on how much to increase the budget.

“This is the one big thing we vote on,” she said. “It’s important for the Board of Education to submit a budget of what we need in order to move the district forward.”