Middletown budget update shows multi-line deficits; district plans special-education academy requiring up to $1.5M in renovations

The Middletown School District’s budget committee was told Tuesday that the district is projecting deficits across several salary and contract lines in the 2024–25 budget while pursuing a proposal to open an in-district special-education program that would require building renovations.

Natalie Forbes, the district’s director of finance, told the committee that “the total line item transfers from December through February are $8,228.43,” and summarized a set of projected shortfalls including a $240,000 deficit in classified salaries, a $59,986 deficit in employee benefits, a $50,000 shortfall in purchased services tied to substitutes and paraeducators (line 53200), a $320,000 deficit for special-education contracted services (line 53400), a $163,000 projection for out-of-district special-education transportation (line 55109), and an $886,500 projected deficit for tuition to private providers (line 55630) for students placed outside the district.

“The attrition number is 2.5%,” Forbes said when board members asked how the district is estimating vacant-time savings; she added that the district…