Reading Superintendent Releases Proposed FY16 Budget

Superintendent John F. Doherty’s proposed Fiscal Year 2016 budget that includes a 4.7 percent reduction in the level service budget in order to comply with the Finance Committee’s recommendations for developing the budget this year.

In a post on his blog, Doherty explains that “an annual structural revenue deficit, combined with an inadequate Chapter 70 funding formula and minimal state aid funding increases,” have led to the need to cut nearly $850,000 across personnel and non-personnel areas to meet the required 2.56 percent increase to maintain level services.

The proposed budget also includes increases user fees for athletics, extra-curricular activities, and non-mandatory bus transportation, none of which have increased since 2010, the blog post states.

Still, the budget is designed to meet multi-year goals, Doherty writes, while addressing budget drivers -- namely, contractual obligations and cost increases in special education and natural gas costs.

The proposed budget comes in at $41.4 million, an increase of $1 million from the previous year.

Check out numbers and more info about how the budget was formed on the superintendent’s blog.