Business Administrator Michael Catalano presented the school district’s tentative financial plan to the board of education last month.
The board of education unanimously approved a 2026-’27 tentative budget of about $59 million on March 26 that includes a 5.95% tax increase.
The board plans to adopt the final budget at its May 7 meeting. The tax increase will mean another $467 a year for an average assessed home value of $542,896.
The district has already cut five paraprofessional and 2.3 full-time teachers. For each of the latter it wants to keep, the district’s cost is about $100,000 for both salaries and benefits. The school system has seen $1,804,313 in benefit increases and $608,000 in salary hikes.
At the board’s March 17 budget meeting, Superintendent Chuck Klaus said further cuts would involve 3.5 full-time teachers, five paraprofessionals and a maintenance person. But at the March 26 session, business administrator Michael Catalano reported that the district was able to reduce those cuts to 2.3 full-time teachers and the single maintenance position.
“We’re actually happier that these numbers are down,” Klaus explained. “(For) those FTE teaching staff numbers, I believe, there’s two more there and another support staff member. That’s the only thing that’s changed in nine days time. That’s the work we’ve been doing.”
Klaus said the district was able to save another full-time teaching position by adding $25,000 to miscellaneous revenue and taking $75,000 from the joint insurance fund’s excess surplus, which equals one full-time position. Funds were moved around other areas as well.
“But by doing all that, we were able to not only get rid of that $21,000 deficit, but we were able to put it back in our second-shift maintenance retainer,” Klaus noted, “which is significant because that person secures the buildings at night, makes sure everything works, keeps up with the painting of the buildings.
“They look so much better than they used to.”
The district initially considered cutting freshman and middle-school athletics and co-curriculars entirely, but settled on losing some coaching positions and reducing other costs like team uniforms and supplies.
“We’re really looking more at reducing seasons of some of these (sports),” Klaus said, “like freshman season is going to 80% seasons, that type of stuff. So you get reductions that way. So we were able to maintain everything, but we are going to be tighter in that type.”
Board member Stephanie Benecchi was grateful cuts in sports programs were averted.
“I think it’s much better to cut the schedule shorter than to cut the program,” she pointed out. “That’s great news.”
To avoid cuts entirely, the district would have had to raise taxes by 8.16%, a move prohibited without a vote. The maximum tax increase would have been 6.45%. Part of the reason the district was able to increase taxes above 2% is because of the $138,000 banked cap it had from previous years. Without the maximum levy, the district still has $60,196 in banked cap.
Benecchi remarked that it was beneficial to start the budget process in December to prepare for a vote.
“We are all, I think, very clear on how we got here,” she commented. “It’s been a lot of work for everyone involved, but I do think there are some advantages to moving up our timeline and being as proactive as we’ve been.”
Klaus announced at the board’s March 12 meeting that the district would see a 1.5% increase in state aid – or about $50,000 – accounting for approximately 7% of the budget.
