Community Corner

[UPDATE] Cheshire School Budget Document Online

The complete budget request for 2012-13 is available on Cheshire Patch.

The key factors in the Cheshire school budget for the 2012-13 school year are:

  • Total budget request: $63,205,890
  • Increase: $1.85 million over current year, or 3.02 percent
  • Addition of three new elementary school teachers

In his budget presentation to the Cheshire Board of Education on Thursday night, Superintendent of Schools Greg Florio said the small increase requested is possible because teacher salaries did not go up significantly. “The renegotiated contract makes this possible,” he said. The contract calls for an increase next year of 2.3 percent.

However, teacher salaries are about a third of the cost of the budget increase, Florio said, with requested increase of $645,696. Other salaries account for a budget increase request of about $640,678, or about another third of the total budget request. He said transportation expenses are up 15 percent for the cost of diesel fuel for school buses. 

Find out what's happening in Cheshirewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Maintenance costs are down less than one percent from last year. Despite the decrease, Florio said the town's school buildings are aging and must continue to be maintained.

As a point of reference, Florio mentioned the water main break on Wednesday at Cheshire High School that was caused by a 60-year-old pipe. The break caused school to be dismissed at 10:45 a.m. that day.

Find out what's happening in Cheshirewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The public budget review meetings are as follows:

  • Thurs., Jan. 12 at Dodd Middle School at 7:30 p.m.
  • Thurs., Jan. 19, at Town Hall, 7:30pm
  • Tues., January 24, at Dodd Middle School, 7:30pm
  • Thurs., January 26, at Dodd Middle School, 7:30pm

"It’s an exciting time to be involved despite the budget pressures,” said BOE Chairman Gerald Brittingham. A timeline for the budget process

 


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