Groton school budget hearing scheduled for Tuesday
Groton — The Board of Education will hold a public hearing Tuesday on the proposed 2019-20 school budget.
The hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Tuesday in the main room of the Groton Senior Center.
Superintendent Michael Graner has proposed a $78.4 million budget for 2019-20 that calls for a 2.59 percent increase.
Contractual raises for employees, along with increases in school and maintenance supplies and special education tuition, are the main factors driving the increases in his proposed budget, he said.
After the current education budget was cut last year by about $1.8 million from what was proposed, the school board reduced funding supplies and equipment and decreased its health insurance reserve, said Graner. He said some of the increases in the proposed budget would fully restore some sections of the budget to their 2017-18 levels.
For example, the budget proposal restores about $628,000 to the $2.8 million supply account, so it would total $3.4 million in 2019-20.
The proposed budget also maintains class size, preserves school and extracurricular programs, backs the Next Generation Science Standards, provides for an online enrichment and remedial support program, and improves aging technology and infrastructure, among other proposals, according to Graner.
Graner said that over the last eight years, the budget has gone up an average of 0.65 percent a year.
After the hearing, the board will hold a budget work session at 7 p.m. in the main room of the senior center.
The board will continue this month and next month to consider residents' comments and will hold a joint meeting with the Town Council and Representative Town Meeting next month. The Board of Education is anticipated to approve their budget proposal on Feb. 25 and then turn it over to the town manager to be reviewed by the Town Council and then the Representative Town Meeting.
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