Preliminary Norwich school budget up 3.9% to $87.5M

“In order to ensure that our thoughtful, intentional and aggressive plans are realized, we will utilize Alliance Funding to invest in an Equity Coordinator.” SUPERINTENDENT KRISTEN STRINGFELLOW IN HER BUDGET PRESENTATION

Norwich — The preliminary 202122 proposed school budget totals $87.5 million, a 3.95% increase over this year’s budget, with increases in tuition, salaries, benefits, utilities and transportation costs, and envisions a full return to in-person learning with after-school programs.

Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow on Wednesday gave the Board of Education Budget Expenditure Committee a preview of the proposed 2021-22 budget she plans to present to the full school board for a possible vote at the March 9 meeting.

Stringfellow said while most line items in the budget are flat-funded, several costly segments represent fixed costs that also will have significant increases next year. Certified salaries are expected to total $18.9 million, a $379,544 increase. Tuition, including the 3% regular education increase at Norwich Free Academy and special education tuition, totals $34 million, an overall 7.6% increase. Health insurance costs are budgeted to increase by $271,000 and transportation costs by nearly $100,000.

Stringfellow said some of those numbers will be adjusted by late spring.

The only new staff positions in the budget are a proposed transportation coordinator, funded in the regular budget, a grant-funded equity coordinator and grant-funded reading and math specialist teachers.

Stringfellow had planned to ramp up the district’s number of math and reading teachers over time in the regular budget, gradually replacing noncertified classroom interventionists with certified teachers. The receipt of federal COVID-19 relief grants will allow her to speed up that process, she told the committee. In the plan, reading and math teachers will be hired in all schools and the district will reorganize instructional specialists into areas of their preference and expertise, such as literacy, math or technology.

Stringfellow called the equity coordinator and the district’s new Equity Committee to address learning gaps among students a “pressing instructional priority.” The coordinator would be funded through the city’s state Alliance District grant aimed at improving student performance.

“In order to ensure that our thoughtful, intentional and aggressive plans are realized, we will utilize Alliance Funding to invest in an Equity Coordinator,” Stringfellow wrote in her budget presentation.

The district recently was awarded $8.5 million federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund COVID-29 relief grant, which will pay for the early rollout of the reading and math teachers and will fund a planned summer school to help students who have fallen behind in remote and hybrid learning during the pandemic.

The summer school positions will be temporary, but the reading and math specialists will be permanent and had been planned for future budgets, Stringfellow said.

She tried last year to add the proposed transportation coordinator to the budget, but the position was eliminated in budget cuts. She said the delay cost the city the chance to partner with other local smaller towns to share the cost of the position. Some of those towns already have partnered with one another to fund a position for themselves, she said.

Last year, Stringfellow had projected the cost at $85,000, but she told the board and City Council members who attended the budget committee meeting that she has not yet set a projected salary for next year.

She fully expects the position to pay for itself in savings realized from more efficient bus routes with shorter rides for students and improved safety. She argued that no one in the school administration has the time to devote to solving frequent transportation issues and responding to emergencies.

While the budget anticipates a full return to in-person learning and transportation for all students, Stringfellow said it would be up to the state to decide whether parents would no longer have the option of fully remote learning for their children. She said the district has been encouraging more and more parents to return their children to in-person learning.

The school district shifted from two-day hybrid in-person learning to four-day in-person learning this week. But about 35% of students have opted for fully remote learning.