March 2008

Welcome to the Board of Education’s inaugural effort to publish its proposed Fiscal Year 2009 budget on our web site!  We are pleased to be able to present the public with an opportunity to view and understand our budget in this unique way.

By clicking below, you will be able to view our proposed budget for the 2008-2009 school year in summary by categories.  You will also be able to see some of the details behind the dollars we spend.  We welcome your suggestions to make this process better.  Regular Board of Education meetings are generally held on the second Thursday of each month, beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the library of Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School.  We reserve time at the start of each meeting to hear comments from the public.  We would love to hear yours.

The Board of Education has requested a total of $40,715,736 to operate our schools and programs for next year.  Of this total, only $140,374 has been requested for new programs and staff.  This includes an additional social worker needed to help our children and their families with the myriad of problems that many of them have.  We have included money to replace the science lab tables at the Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School.  The lab set ups are more than ten years old, and are used by every middle school student during science instruction.  The replacement of these tables is a priority for us, so that the conditions do not deteriorate further and place students in physical danger.  We have also included funding for a Science/Technology/ Engineering and Math (STEM) coordinator at our Science and Technology Magnet High School.  This part-time position will be responsible for curriculum and program design and seeking out new partnerships and grant opportunities for our students.

The balance of our programs and staffing is unchanged from this school year.  We have budgeted additional money for contractual salary increases, changes in transportation costs and projected increases in areas such as energy costs. 

Our core mission to provide our students with the best opportunities for learning that we can afford has not changed.  In the 2006 school year we introduced a new literacy curriculum and reading program at the elementary level.  This is beginning to show some good results in the area of student achievement. Our gifted and talented programs are exciting for our students and their families. We have more students taking advanced placement courses at New London High School than we have had in many, many years.  We are taking an aggressive approach to improving our drop out rates and providing new initiatives to address student failures.   This budget represents our best efforts at providing opportunities for all of our children to succeed.

                                                            Sincerely yours,

                        Elaine Maynard-Adams,

                        Vice-President, Board of Education

                        Chairperson, Finance Committee