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Date: 4/4/2023
STURBRIDGE — The School Committee met on March 21 to vote on the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget, capital plan, and School Choice numbers.
Budget
The committee went over changes to the original proposed budget that had been mailed out to members prior to the meeting. New documents handed out at the meeting reflected changes such as a lowered oil bid and two teacher resignations that resulted in lowered entry-level salaries, bringing the budget down from a 5.5% increase to a 4.9% increase from FY23.
Director of Business and Finance Stephen Nembirkow went through the operating budget by series from FY23 compared to FY24. Using visuals such as a pie chart, he showed the instructional series portions of the budget, which includes the subsections of building administration, regular teaching, professional development, special education, technology, library/media, guidance and technical division teaching. Most of the budget, he said, goes to teaching.
Nembirkow said that most of the money for the budget comes from Chapter 70 which is state aid, out of district tuition, School Choice tuition, and district reserves. There was a small margin of difference from FY23 to FY24, with a slight increase in Chapter 70 money and an increase in district reserves. Most of the money, he said, goes to wages and salaries, followed by student services, with the third largest piece of the budget being insurances.
The FY24 summary presented had a goal of “presenting a budget affordable to all five member towns while addressing anticipated student needs in areas of academics and mental health as well as other targeted areas in the District Improvement Plan.” These targeted areas are curriculum alignment, increased use of technology, new student information system, student support systems to meet all needs, and community connections. The summary presented an operating budget of $27.6 million.
In individual overall school requests, Brimfield had a total FY24 budget increase request of $137,195, a 2% increase from last year. Holland had a 4% overall increase request of $715,542, and Wales had a request of 5% increase, $144,566. In enrollment, Wales had an increase of 9.7 percent, Brimfield is at 15.79%, and Holland at 8.92%.
Capital Plan
Capital projects are recommended in accordance with the 10 year plan to be funded through school choice funds. The committee stressed that were it not for School Choice, many of the following requests would not be able to be met.
Computers, smartboards and classroom wireless devices for the senior and junior high schools are all requests that fall under the technology category of the capital requests. The senior high school also requested things such as portable bleachers, HVAC boiler upgrades, furniture replacement, and more. The junior high requested new toilet stalls and doors, tennis court repair, and a piano, among other things. The full list can be found by contacting the district for a copy of the FY24 budget, specifically the document distributed to the committee at this meeting.
Budget vote
Nembirkow opened by saying that he feels the budget is in a very healthy place right now. The net operating assessment of $27.6 million was unanimously approved, as was the transportation budget and the capital plan budget.
School Choice voting
The total number of School Choice students, including new students coming in, will total 311 for FY24. This was unanimously approved by the committee.