Administration Details School Budget in New Britain New Britain -- Superintendent of Schools Kelt Cooper presented his budget proposal to the Board of Education Monday, June 17. The $123 million local budget includes plans for 16 additional teachers, helping to reduce class size across the district. The budget would bring class sizes down to an average of 21 to 24 students in elementary schools, with most middle school class sizes averaging 25. HALS Academy would average 28 students per class. ELD (English Language Development) teachers would be dispersed throughout the district as needed. Additional teachers, plus the transition to neighborhood schools, are helping to reduce class sizes. The budget calls for reducing the number of para-educators in the district by 99. BOE President Sharon Beloin Saavedra said she is thankful for the increased allocation to the BOE from both the City and the State. “I cannot imagine how much more difficult this process would have been without their support,” she said. “I am deeply concerned regarding the significant reduction of our para-educators; the Board is attending to bring that number down. The question becomes where to shift dollars to make that happen. We must maintain our focus on the reduction of class size, and to that end, the administration has targeted resources to our teaching/certified staff.” The budget counts on $2.5 million in bond funds from the city to help pay for much-needed textbooks. The school district uses an additional $25 million in grant funds to help meet the needs of the district’s students. At 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, the BOE will hold a public hearing on the budget. Following the hearing, the board will discuss the proposal in public. On Wednesday, June 19, the board will vote on the budget at 6:30 p.m. ###
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:38:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015