Norwich — An early look at the 2020-21 school budget left a somber tone for school board and City Council members Wednesday, with a projected $8.8 million increase over this year’s $81 million budget, which is running a deficit of some $2 million.

The totals, however, include “aggressive” worst-case scenarios for special education students at the Norwich Free Academy next year, school Business Administrator Athena Nagel said. Once the NFA enrollment special education placements are finalized, Nagel said she expects the proposed increase to be about 8% rather than the nearly 11% overall increase shown in Wednesday's figures.

Superintendent Kristen Stringfellow made several budget initiatives that would add costs to the budget, including six full-time positions and a passionate plea that Norwich restore middle school sports, eliminated several years ago in budget cuts.

“The saddest thing I’ve heard is that not one of our Norwich kids made a high school varsity team last year,” said Stringfellow, in her first year as Norwich superintendent, “because we don’t have a feeder program.”

She argued that sports provide incentives for students to come to school and to keep their grades up. Costs could be minimal, just for coaches, interscholastic fees and equipment. Basketball and cross country, she said, would be inexpensive. The schools already have uniforms. She would leave it to the city’s two middle schools to decide which sports and whether to have one team for each sport.

Stringfellow included three new elementary school reading teachers, an assistant special education director and an additional maintainer in the proposed budget. She called them “asks” to the Board of Education but said Norwich schools are well behind the norms in certified staffing, relying too much on uncertified classroom interventionists, for example. Ideally, she said, the school system needs 10 reading teachers to ensure young children are learning to read at top levels, but she said adding that many would be unrealistic.

The budget also assumes 3% increases in utilities and health insurance costs in the budget.

Stringfellow said with optimistic adjustments to projected costs, lower final projected costs for NFA special education tuition and grant funding, the actual budget increase could fall between 3% and 8% and cautioned that if the school system receives much lower than that, next year’s budget needs could be 12%, saying each year of underfunding means more catching up the following year.

Norwich did get one piece of good budget news Wednesday in Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed 2020-21 budget. Norwich is budgeted to receive $39.2 million in its Education Cost Sharing grant, up $1.24 million over this year’s total.

Stringfellow spent the 90 minutes of Wednesday’s budget committee meeting giving a detailed presentation on the complex network of state and federal grants that fund huge portions of the public school budget, including paying for 41% of teachers, and the equally complex array of high school choices and the various tuitions and transportation costs.

Norwich sends 1,553 students to NFA, with 1,253 in general education and 300 in various special education programs. Norwich paid $22.4 million in tuition this year, plus another $7.1 million in costs for transportation, special education support staff and equipment. Transportation to NFA totaled $1.29 million. Stringfellow said all the costs combined — general and special education tuition and transportation and support — brought the overall cost per student to $19,101 this year.

Stringfellow admitted the Norwich school district relies too heavily on its grant programs, a dangerous practice when grants are reduced suddenly or eliminated. She said principals in some schools had to scramble this year when expected grants did not come through for some programs.

But she said of the grants: “If they disappear tomorrow, we wouldn’t be able to open our doors.”

c.bessette@theday.com