Cromwell BOE passes $36.4M budget with cuts

CROMWELL — The Board of Education recently approved the superintendent’s proposed $36.4 million budget for the 2023-24 academic year, which carries a 6.94 percent increase over the current $34 million spending package.

A number of factors contributed to the increase, according to Superintendent of Schools Enza Macri’s presentation, most notably a $1.4 million increase in staff salaries, a hike of 45.3 percent in employee benefits, special education costs, transportation, and inflation, which has caused utility bills to increase dramatically.

Administrative salaries account for a 16 percent increase in spending — and that’s without an assistant superintendent on staff, which is the case in other municipalities Cromwell’s size, Macri said.

She originally asked the board for $37.4 million, a 9.93 percent increase, which would eliminate the need to cut jobs.

A number of individuals concerned about the possible loss of educators in the district, most notably paraprofessionals, spoke out during the Feb. 7 Board of Education meeting.

She and her team have been working “relentlessly” on the budget, which places “students first,” she told those at the meeting.

The budget increase is slightly less than inflation, which stands at 7.1 percent, the superintendent said. School administrators across Connecticut are asking for similar hikes in spending, she contended, including those in East Lyme,

South Windsor, and Hamden.

Macri made it clear that she is focused on retaining employees through attrition, changing workers’ positions, rewriting job descriptions and other measures. “I’m trying to think of people’s livelihoods,” she noted.

She also spoke about a concern held by many about more children being added to classrooms.

“I gave you hypotheticals so that no one would feel exactly what you’re feeling today, and,

Contributed photo Enza Macri, superintendent of Cromwell Public Schools.