BETHEL — Voters in SAD 44 will decide on a school budget at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Helen C. Berry Auditorium of Telstar Regional High School.
The $10,271,310 spending plan is $282,041 more than the current fiscal year, Superintendent David Murphy said. Included is $125,000 for teacher retirement. The state Legislature has not yet decided on whether to require school districts to pay these funds, which the state had paid in the past.
Murphy said all positions have remained intact.
While developing the 2013-14 budget, the board had to deal with another drop in state aid to education, which for the upcoming year is expected to be $704,356. That’s down from $879,274 this fiscal year, which ends June 30.
If the budget passes at the districtwide meeting May 28 and the referendum at town polling stations June 11, the town assessments would be:
* Andover, $494,601, up 7 percent
* Bethel, $2,680,550, up 5.2 percent
* Greenwood, $971,709, up 4 percent
* Newry, $2,790,285, up nearly 2.4 percent
* Woodstock, $1,014,649, up 2.5 percent
Residents will also decide whether to approve an adult and community education budget of $152,259, which is down by about $5,000. They will also vote on moving $500,000 from the undesignated funds to the capital reserve fund, which has been largely depleted because of an energy and air quality project under way at Telstar Middle/High School.
The district serves a little more than 800 students.
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