Stonington school budget shows small decrease

Stonington — The proposed 2019-20 school budget shows a small decrease, thanks to savings from the consolidation of the town’s middle schools and closing of two other schools.

Beginning next fall, students from Pawcatuck Middle School will attend the larger Mystic Middle School, which will be renamed Stonington Middle School. In addition, West Broad Street School will close with students moving to the newly renovated and expanded West Vine Street School. The School Administration office in Old Mystic will also close with administrators moving to space at Pawcatuck Middle School.

The $38 million budget proposed by Superintendent of Schools Van Riley last week calls for an $11,000 or .03 percent increase compared to the current budget. The school board is scheduled to begin its review of the budget when it meets Thursday at 7 p.m. at the high school.

Riley said the closing of the two buildings and consolidation of the middle schools has resulted in a budget savings of about $1 million, or about 3 percent.

“In these tough fiscal times it’s important for us locally to do whatever we can to keep costs down because of how much we have been losing from the state (in education aid),” Riley said Tuesday.

In addition to helping the school system save money on utilities, maintenance and other costs, the consolidation is expected to result in expanded program offerings for students.