$62 Million Budget Proposal Adopted

Cost-cutting measures were at the heart of , but the Board of Education's finance committee took a different approach when presenting former Interim-Superintendent Dr. Ernest Perlini's proposal, without any adjustments, for approval to Board members Monday night.

The Board unanimously voted to adopt the proposal.

Page two of Perlini's proposal touted seven efforts to cut costs, totaling $4.2 million in savings. Monday, finance committee members stressed educational gains within the $62 million budget, which represents a .99-percent increase over the current fiscal year.

"All of the elmentary school cuts are due to the elementary reorgainzation," Finance Committee Chair Christopher Watts said when addressing the 15.9 positions being cut under the proposal. "When you close a school, you lose some staff."

Among the positions cut at the elmentary level are janitors, clerical staff and a principal, Watts said.

Watts added that 2.5 positions cut at Sage Park "can be attributed to declining enrollment."

Among the educational gains touted are full-day paraprofessionals in each kindergarten classroom and foreign language staff for kindergarten and grade 1 instruction.

Approval of the education budget is pending approval by the town council this spring.