FALLS VILLAGE, Conn.—The Region 1 Board of Education unanimously approved a $18,485,210 budget for 2025-26 Monday, March 10, sending it on to a Thursday, April 10, budget hearing.
The April hearing, slated for 6:30 p.m., will be hybrid, both in-person at Housatonic Valley Regional High School, 246 Warren Turnpike Road, and via Zoom.
A public referendum in all six Region 1 towns will be held Tuesday, May 6, from noon to 8 p.m. Region 1 serves Kent, Salisbury, Sharon, Falls Village, Canaan, and Cornwall.
The budget covers costs at the high school, the Regional School Services Centers and Pupil Services (special education). Each town pays portions of these costs based on enrollment.
Kent will send 41 students to HVRHS next year, up from 37 students, and will pay $1,446,787, or 12.5 percent of the costs. For Pupil Services, its assessment will be 12.4 percent or $933,567. Regional Schools Services Center cost for Kent will be $231,365 or 12.4 percent.
The budget process began with the New Year, with a proposed increase of 7.44 percent, or $1,315,504. Subsequent discussion reduced that figure $520,622, creating a 4.49 percent budgetary increase.
Unexpended funds from the 2024-25 budget were allocated toward equipment purchases anticipated for next year, thus reducing the 2025-26 budget proposal by 1 percent, or $176,903.
These purchases included athletic equipment such as softball dugouts and scoreboard stanchions ($63,000), IT equipment ($50,000), general maintenance ($40,663), Smart Boards and scientific calculators for math ($12,740), and Vernier probes and projectors ($10,500).
As in all budgets, the main driver for increases are salary, benefits and utilities. Salaries at the high school would total $5,682,450, up $103,879, and represent 56 percent of the $10,101,059 total budget.
Benefits add another $1,592,946, up $61,019. Purchased services, instructional supplies, equipment and other expenses constitute about a quarter of the budget, or another $2,825,662, up $208,319.
High school expenses were reduced by $121,00 by the retirement of one full-time teacher, who will not be replaced, and elimination of an $11,000 SRBI (Scientific research-based interventions) coordinator position.
Another factor that benefits the bottom line was retirement of a debt that cost $219,451 annually.
Salaries, at $4,226,812, represented 54.9 percent of Pupil Services’ $7,704,557 budget. Benefits are $1,727,123, or 22.4 percent. Together, they account for 77.3 percent of the total local budget costs for special education.
The department’s purchased services, which includes transportation to special programs, is budgeted at $1,721,322, while other expenses account for only $29,200.
Pupil Services provides a variety of often-costly programs tailored to students with special needs. During the presentation to the Region 1 board, the sharp increases in the Pupil Services budget were attributed to an increase in the cost of educational/psychological evaluations and out-of-district tuition for eight students requiring services that can’t be provided in-district.
The $2,829,575 Regional School Services Center budget includes $1,279,518 for salaries, which accounts for 69.9 percent of the budget. Benefits are $409,723, or 24.4 percent of the department’s budget. Purchased service account for another $142,441, or 7.8 percent. Instructional supplies and equipment totaled only $13,057 or 0.7 percent. Other expenses were zeroed out and reduced the budget by $15,465.
Driving factors were salary increases, an anticipated 13.5 percent increase in combined health and dental benefit costs, and increases in life insurance premiums. These are offset by a reduction in English Language Learners program staffing because of low student numbers, and a reduction in the cost of legal services.
