Bethel BOE Approves $49.5 Million 2021-22 School Budget

BETHEL, CT — The school board has approved Superintendent Christine Carver's $49.5 million budget for the 2021-22 school year. The proposal represents a 3.09 percent increase over the current spending plan.

Salaries and benefits are the proposed budget's primary drivers, comprising 85.6 percent of the total spend. The plan would see salaries go up by $899,090 or 2.81 percent, and benefits increase $628,001 or 7.06 percent.

The proposed salary increases take into consideration an increase in the minimum wage, a bump in pay for staff who obtain additional degrees, and fewer projected retirements.

The overall increase in benefits is $628,001 or 7.06 percent, and the big budget driver overall is the increase in health insurance of 8 percent

"The claims in our district have been very reasonable this year but the increase will depend on the total pool of participants in the CT Partnership Plan 2.0," Carver wrote in her presentation to the board.

You can see the rest of the board of education's proposed budget online here.

The budget will go before the Board of Finance and Board of Selectman on Feb. 16.