AUBURN – Superintendent Barbara Eretzian on Wednesday proposed a $31.4 million for next year, up about 5.7 percent from this year.
The state is expected to contribute about $14.5 million, but Eretzian said it is unclear how much local taxpayers will have to put in since state aid may still fluctuate and the school system is continuing to look for additional sources of revenue.
During her presentation to the School Committee, Eretzian emphasized that the budget proposal could – and likely would – change over the next several weeks as school officials learned more about revenues, state aid and enrollment projections.
“I can’t reiterate enough. This is a workbook,” she said.
As proposed, the budget is about $1.7 million more than this year’s $29.7 million budget. The biggest increase comes from raises, with $780,000 more set aside for salaries. The second-biggest increase came from energy costs. In the proposal, the school system set aside an additional $298,000 for heating oil and gasoline.
In the proposal, Eretzian also suggested adding one special education teacher, four teaching assistants and a maintenance worker. While those positions would cost about $100,000, the school system would save more than $280,000 because it wouldn’t have to pay high tuition costs to send some special education students out of the system and it wouldn’t have to hire outside contractors to do building work.
The School Committee is scheduled to hold budget workshops March 23, March 30 and April 6 at 6 p.m. in Auburn Hall to discuss the budget.
The committee is expected to vote on the budget April 27. It will then present its approved budget to the City Council.
The City Council can send the budget back and tell the School Committee to ask for less money, but it can’t cut specific items.
BREAKOUT>>>>
Proposed budget: $31.4 million
Increase over this year: $1.7 million or 5.7 percent
Biggest increases:
Salaries, $780,000
Energy costs, $298,000
Special education tuition, $255,000
Insurance and benefits, $247,000
The proposed school budget can be viewed at: www.auburnschl.edu/budget
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