The Board of Education heard from individuals representing different areas of the Superintendent’s Requested Operational Plan 2023-24 between two meetings, January 19 and January 24.

As previously reported in The Newtown Bee, Superintendent of Schools Chris Melillo outlined his initial 2023-24 spending proposal to the Board of Education at a January 17 meeting. The budget proposal totals $85,989,669 — a roughly $3,855,030, or 4.69 percent, increase over the current year’s spending package.

The school board is expected to adopt its version of the budget at a scheduled January 31 meeting, when a public hearing is also slated. From there the budget will go to the Board of Finance for review and recommendations before being presented to the Legislative Council.

The council will then deliberate, and if necessary, make adjustments to the spending plan before it goes to local voters for consideration in late April.

At the January 19 meeting, the school board heard first from Newtown’s elementary school principals. According to the Superintendent’s Requested Operational Plan, the public school elementary principals compiled the budget request as a team.

District priorities listed in the budget document for the elementary schools include developing a systemic approach to social/emotional learning that includes the use of data and communication to staff, students, parents, and community members; continuing to develop a culture of rigorous learning to enhance student engagement; analyzing and utilizing assessment data to ensure the implementation of effective curricula, instructional practices, and intervention strategies to improve academic performance; and sustaining and strengthening a positive school climate.

The combined proposed budget for the four elementary schools for 2023-24 is $12,288,431, or a $175,747 or 1.45 percent increase from the current spending year, according to the Superintendent’s Requested Operational Plan 2023-24.

“We do work in a collaborative manner to provide a fiscally responsible budget at an elementary level and to meet the specific needs of our students,” said Middle Gate Elementary School Principal Christopher Geissler.

School board members asked about different aspects of the proposed 2023-24 plan, including a planned reduction to paraprofessional positions, with the hope that those positions will transfer to positions for special education paraprofessionals, as detailed in the superintendent’s presentation the previous meeting.

“We have landing spots for every one of those people who may lose their job,” Melillo told the school board January 19. “They may not be where they want to be, but they have a job.”

Melillo said the reduction came after “tough decisions,” and spoke to an effort to keep the budget increase low to not present a larger increase to taxpayers. He also said he is open to finding ways to fund all the paraprofessional positions, and spoke to the reduction being a result of dealing with the end of grants funding positions that need to continue to support learning needs.

Later in the meeting, the public participation portion included Newtown Public School library media specialists and library employees speaking about the removal of the elementary school library paraprofessionals. According to the speakers, the removal will mean library media specialists will absorb 20 hours of work each, and volunteers will not do the work of library paraprofessionals.

The library staffers asked for a reinstatement of the elementary school library paraprofessionals.

Reed Intermediate Review

Reed Intermediate School’s proposal was next on the agenda January 19. According to the Superintendent’s request, Reed’s proposed budget is $4,866,565, or a $146,889 or 3.11 percent increase from the current year.

“We’re growing ... and that is actually really wonderful to say,” said Reed Principal Dr Matt Correia, also sharing that class sizes will remain relatively around 22. He later responded to a board member question saying if he ever gets concerned about class sizes, he will inform the board.

Correia said there were “a lot of” conversations that led to Reed’s proposed 2023-24 budget. He spoke to a number of proposed budget positions and plans before the school board asked a range of questions.

The last school budget inspected at the January 19 meeting was Newtown Middle School’s spending proposal. According to the superintendent’s plan, NMS’s 2023-24 proposed budget is $5,413,664, or a $217,258 or 4.18 percent increase from the current year’s spending package.

NMS Principal Jim Ross said his school prides itself on providing “a strong and diversified academic and social/emotional experience for our seventh and eighth grade students.”

After speaking about projected enrollment, Ross said, “I believe the budget set forth by the middle school is fiscally responsible and will still meet the academic and social/emotional needs for all the learners”

NHS Spending Plan

Discussion on individual budget proposals continued at the January 24 meeting, starting with Newtown High School’s proposed budget. NHS’s proposed 2023-24 budget is $12,582,514, or a $282,989 or 2.3 percent increase over the current budget.

NHS Principal Dr Kimberly Longobucco shared that while school seems to be more “normal,” challenges include facing learning loss while reacclimating students to school expectations.

Longobucco said she believes her school’s budget is lean.

Longobucco shared budget goals as aligning with school and district strategic plans, objectives, and all state mandates; protecting the instructional core; ensuring all programs have adequate resources to maintain a safe, inclusive and high level instruction; and maintaining adequate class sizes and enrollment across all disciplines.

Major budget increases at NHS come from salaries, benefits, staff training, contracted services, and transportation. Budget reductions come from communication, printing, supplies, tuition, tutors, and textbooks, according to the presentation.

While pointing out a reduction to enrollment, Longobucco explained the decrease does not equate to a reduction in staff due to how classes are formed and past staff reductions.

Both Longobucco and Athletic Director Matt Memoli answered board member questions following the NHS budget presentation.

The 2023-24 athletics budget proposal is $1,111,225, or a $36,776 increase from the current spending plan.

Additional Budget Reviews

The school board also looked at the special education, pupil personnel, health, and curriculum budget proposals at the January 24 meeting.

As detailed in the Superintendent’s Requested Operational Plan 2023-24, the largest impact on the special education budget is the services needs of each individual student.

“Services range in cost from a few hundred dollars to as much as $250,000 for one student per school year,” the budget reads. “Special education represents 15.7 percent of the total 2023-24 budget request and accounts for [more than] 600 students.”

The requested 2023-24 special education budget is $13,517,598, or a $904,896 or 7.17 percent change from the current spending package.

Director of Pupil Services Deborah Petersen said the bigger budget drivers for special education are salaries and benefits, outplacements, tuition, and transportation. She also said mental health support needs continue to increase.

The pupil personnel budget provides health services, school counseling, and school psychology, according to the budget proposal. The 2023-24 pupil personnel budget proposal is $4,736,914, or a $284,817 or 6.4 percent increase from the current budget.

The health and medical services budget was shared within the pupil personnel services budget in the Superintendent’s Requested Operational Plan 2023-24. The 2023-24 spending proposal is $565,774, a $5,831 increase over the current budget.

The curriculum budget proposal for 2023-24 is $1,226,456, a $258,096 or a 26.65 percent increase from the current budget. As described in the Superintendent’s Requested Operational Plan 2023-24, the budget includes resources to continue to build progress and accelerate learning to pre-pandemic levels and “the requests will build consistency and coherence between and among grade levels in order to better identify which instructional practices and materials have the greatest impact on student learning.”

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Anne Uberti said the curriculum budget often has “swings: in funding over the years, as it is based on yearly changing teacher and student needs.

The Board of Education also held a January 26 meeting to inspect the technology, Newtown Continuing Education, plant, benefits, and general services and transportation spending proposals.

A final Board of Education budget meeting is slated for January 31, when a public hearing will be held for the budget and the board is expected to adopt the budget that evening.

Education Editor Eliza Van can be reached at eliza@thebee.com.