Schools
Ridgefield $103.4M School Budget To Go Before Finance Board
The proposed Ridgefield Public Schools spending plan is $3.45 million more than the current school year's budget.
RIDGEFIELD, CT — The Board of Education has approved the nearly $103.4 million budget for the Public Schools, submitted by Superintendent Susie Da Silva
The proposed spending plan is $3.45 million more than the current school year's budget.
Salaries and benefits are the lead drivers, as is typical in school budgets. Combined, the two categories make up 80 percent of the overall spending plan.
Notable additions to the roster this year are a director of curriculum with a salary just over $173,800, and a high school special education teacher and elementary school art teacher each earning around $77,000.
The new art teacher was an amendment to Da Silva's original proposal, added at no additional dollar amount in the new draft but coming at the expense of coronavirus-related line items.
The Board of Education adopted its budget on Feb. 22. It has since been presented to the Board of Selectmen, who made a non-binding recommendation to the Board of Finance of 3.0 percent. That represents a reduction of $454,556 to the current plan that was approved by the BoE.
The Board of Finance will hold a public hearing on the town and school budget for 2021-22 on March 15, and the school board will formally present its plan to the BoF on March 18.
The annual town meeting to discuss both budgets is scheduled for Apr. 24, with the town referendum set for May 11.
