FALLS VILLAGE—The public will get a chance to vote on the proposed Region 1 Board of Education budget for the 2024-25 school year in a referendum slated for Tuesday, May 7. Polling will take place at the Kent Town Hall, 41 Kent Green Blvd., from noon to 8 p.m.
The referendum includes one question: “Shall the combined net budget for Regional School District No. 1 (Housatonic Valley Regional High School, Pupil Services Center and Regional Schools Services Center) for fiscal year 2024-2025 in the amount of $17,690,331 be approved? Vote “Yes” or vote “No.”
The proposed budget can be viewed here.
The budget shows an increase in spending of $658,003, or 3.86 percent. The budget has several component parts: the high school, district-wide Pupil Services, and the Regional School Services Center, which provides administrative services throughout the district.
If approved, net spending for the high school, after $958,300 in revenues are factored in, would increase $357,173, or 4.14 percent, to $8,988,991. Pupil Services, which includes special education, accounts for almost half the budget and would increase $250,066 or 3.7 percent to a net of $6,983,430. The adjusted RSSC budget is $1,717,910, an increase of $50,763 or 3.04 percent.
The towns are assessed for these costs based on their student populations as compared to other district communities. Kent, with 37 students at the high school, would bear 12.8 percent of the cost of the facility, paying $1.4 million. North Canaan, which sends 102 students, would pick up the biggest burden with an assessment of $3.8 million, while Salisbury, with 63 students, would pay nearly $2.4 million.
A similar pattern is shown for assessments for Pupil Services. Kent, which has 162 students in Region 1 schools, would again pay 12.8 percent of the costs, or $898,583. North Canaan, with 246 students, would shoulder 19.5 percent of the cost at $1.3 million, while Salisbury, with 295 students, would pay 23.4 percent, or $1.6 million.
Kent would again pay 12.8 percent of the RSSC budget, or $224,362. The sending towns with the largest student populations, Canaan and Salisbury, would pay $323,397 and $381,168 respectively.
The high school, which serves Kent, Canaan, Falls Village, Sharon, Salisbury and Cornwall, is located on Warren Turnpike in Falls Village.
