Proposed Brookfield School Budget To Go Before Public

BROOKFIELD, CT — The school board will hold a public forum on the school budget, in advance of their meeting on Wednesday.

Last month Superintendent John Barile proposed a budget of $47,088,717 which represents a 6.8 percent increase above the 2019-20 spending plan of $44,091,182.

In the budget, Barile cites contractual, collective bargaining increases; employee health insurance; and transportation, fuel and electricity costs as the principal drivers behind the increase, totaling about $1.2 million.

Another $1.1 million in increases the superintendent attributes to "outlier" costs, which include an increase in minimum wage paid to monitors, a hike in legal fees, a two percent health insurance surcharge, reduction in Medicaid reimbursement, and the loss of the one-time revenue from the Non-Lapsing Fund. Most notably, the budget now calls for nearly $850,000 in special education-related costs.

Finally, the new spending plan is calling for an increase of nearly $720,000 in what the superintendent describes as "investments," which include additional staff, text books, and a security service. The biggest line items are new teacher salaries which average around $68,000 per annum, as well as healthcare for the new staff.

The public forum is scheduled for 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday at the Brookfield High School Media Center.