Finance committee forwards $95.76 million Cheshire school budget to full board

The Cheshire School District Finance Committee of the Whole voted unanimously to forward a proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget of $95,756,450 to the full Board of Education, an increase of $6,213,841, or 6.94 percent, over the current year.

Doctor Harrigan, chair of the Finance Committee, called on district staff to present an updated recommendation. "The budget is a really fluid process," Doctor Solon said as he introduced the adjustments and the staff's Option B recommendation.

Why it matters: the proposal sets the spending level the town will consider during its budget process and includes both reductions and additions to respond to new insurance estimates and district priorities such as instructional coaching and a proposed secondary STEM coordinator.

Key details from the presentation and committee discussion

- Total and change: The motion before the committee was to submit a proposed FY2025–26 budget of $95,756,450, reflecting an increase of $6,213,841 (6.94%) over the current year. The Finance Committee voted unanimously to forward that proposal to the full board.

- Insurance: Operations staff reported new insurance estimates received the day of the meeting. "The estimate is about 7 to 8%," Vin said when describing updated projections for workers' compensation and liability. The district recommended increasing the excess liability policy limit from $5,000,000 to $10,000,000, a change described by staff as adding roughly $30,000 to the insurance lines; total insurance-line increases presented on the worksheet were about $46,000.

- Staffing and programs: The staff recommended maintaining the proposed secondary STEM director position but lowering its budgeted step from the top administrator step (step 6) to step 4, producing about $5,000 in savings compared with the earlier figure. A requested 1.0 art position was reduced to a 0.5 increase. The district proposed flat-lining staff training at $211,700 and made reductions in replacement/new equipment and building maintenance lines (including a potential $50,000 reduction in maintenance) to help offset additions.

- Transportation and maintenance tradeoffs: Pupil transportation is a large line item (discussed as approximately $4.3 million by staff). The administration recommended trimming a requested transportation increase by $45,000 while retaining what staff said is still needed (including an additional type 1 bus anticipated for special-education and general-education runs).

- Instructional coaching and curriculum coordination: Marlene, a district curriculum staff member, described how coaches and specialists support teachers and students, citing assessment tools such as i-Ready and Acadience. "Coaching is both, I would say it's both strategic and it's situational," Marlene said, and staff emphasized that the budget reductions were designed to minimize impacts on in-class supports and coaching funded previously with ESSER dollars.

- State funding uncertainty: Committee members asked about potential changes to the state's education funding formulas. Doctor Solon and members discussed the special education task force report and possible adjustments to the Educational Cost Share (ECS) formula or excess-cost grants; Solon said it was too early to know how any change would affect Cheshire and expressed cautious optimism that funding conditions could improve by April.

Committee action and next steps

Committee member (name not specified in the transcript) moved that the Finance Committee submit the proposed FY2025–26 budget of $95,756,450 (an increase of $6,213,841 or 6.94%) to the full board; the motion was seconded by Mister Ekey. The finance committee then voted; staff recorded the result as unanimous. The proposal will appear on the full Board of Education agenda at the district's upcoming meeting (the staff noted the full-board session is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m.).

The district presentation emphasized that the numbers remain subject to change as town and state budget processes continue and as final insurance and state aid figures become available.

Members' remarks

Several committee members thanked staff for the work on the budget and for producing a version with targeted reductions that preserved classroom-focused positions. Board members praised the administration for transparency and responsiveness during the review.

What the committee did not decide

The vote forwarded the budget proposal to the full board; it did not adopt final appropriations. Staff and board members repeatedly framed the worksheets and reductions as proposals and trade-offs rather than final cuts.

Proposed timeline

Staff and multiple board members noted additional budget discussion will occur when the town reviews the school proposal and that final numbers may change when more information on state aid and insurance is available.