Budget Increase Proposed For Wallingford Schools In 2024-25

WALLINGFORD, CT — Wallingford Superintendent of Schools Danielle Bellizzi recently presented the Board of Education with a proposed budget for 2024-25 that calls for an overall increase of more than 6 percent over the current school year.

Each year, the school board in Wallingford is presented with a two-pronged budget — a Sustained Services Budget and a Strategic Plan Budget. The sustained services budget represents the estimated costs needed to maintain the current services to the next year while the strategic plan includes funding needed to meet the school district's goals.

The sustained services budget for 2024-2025 was calculated to be $119.5 million, representing an increase of 5.3 percent.

The proposed budget looks to add three full-time teachers, based on student enrollment, and three staff members and two paraeducators.

The Strategic Enhancements for the 2024-2025 school year were calculated to be $804,335 for an increase of .709 percent.

The Sustained Services Budget and the priorities of the Strategic Enhancement requests was calculated to be $120.3 million, representing a total increase of 6.012 percent, according to documents from the district’s central office.

The Board of Education has also identified $2.6 million in capital projects that officials said the town needs to consider for bonding.

Those projects include replacing boilers at Pond Hill Elementary School and Lyman Hall High School, replacing the back playscape at Moses Y. Beach Elementary School, renovating the softball field at Lyman Hall, renovating the baseball and softball fields at Dag Hammarskjöld Middle School, repainting and resurfacing the tennis courts at both Lyman Hall and Sheehan high schools, and sidewalk repair at Sheehan.

The Board of Education will hold several workshops on the proposed budget to prepare a final budget proposal that will be presented to the Town Council in May.

The public is invited to the in-person workshop sessions that will be held in the Board of Education Conference Room at 100 South Turnpike Road on the following dates:

• Thursday, Jan. at 6 p.m.
• Monday, Jan. 29 at 6p.m.
• Thursday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m. (if needed)
• Thursday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m. (if needed)

For more information on the proposed 2024-25 budget, visit the presentation here and the central office’s budget fact sheet here.