New Milford Bridges Budget Gap With High School Sports Fees

NEW MILFORD, CT -- The School Board met Thursday night to vote on ways to bridge the $1.26 million gap between the $64.3 million budget the board accepted in January and the $63 million budget voters approved this week.

Among the tweaks proposed by Schools Superintendent Joshua Smith, and accepted by the Board, as reported by the News Times, was a "pay to play" mandate for high school sports. School athletes will now be charged $125 per sport, with a family cap of $500.

Ten positions were also eliminated from the budget, including three para educators, a library clerk, a technician, a kindergarten teacher at Hill and Plain School, a maintenance worker, a social studies teacher, a math teacher and 1.5 special education teachers.

Other cuts, which some board members protested could affect academics, included delaying $150,000 in purchasing some supplies and small capital items at all of the schools, and about $71,000 in holding off on replacing textbooks.

After all cuts are made, the 2018-19 schools budget is $200,000 more than that of the current year.

For more on the story, see The News Times.