Fairfield Schools Seek $10 Million Budget Increase

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield’s school district is seeking a budget increase of more than 5 percent and nearly $10 million for the coming academic year — but that’s not the whole story.

“Of the 5.32 percent, 1.39 percent is based on replacing or restoring this hole that was created back during the budget negotiations in the spring,” Superintendent Mike Cummings told the school board Tuesday when he presented the budget.

The district’s full proposed budget for the 2021-22 school year is $194.3 million. Of that amount, about $2.6 million is related to funds that carried over from 2019-2020 to pay for expenses in 2020-21. Like many complicating factors that have occurred in the last year, the carryover was related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The 2020 spring shutdown caused by the pandemic left the district with an excess $3.6 million, which went into a non-lapsing account. Of the $3.6 million, $2.1 million was designated for virus-related expenses in 2020-21 and $1.52 million was set aside for maintenance costs the same year. The $1.52 million that was previously allocated for maintenance was removed from the 2020-21 budget and the money from the non-lapsing account was used instead.

Additionally, the district allocated a surplus $1 million left over from the lack of bus service in 2019-2020 to pay for buses in 2020-21, resulting in the removal of $1 million that had been set aside for transportation.

Now, those previously cut dollars must go back in the budget, according to Director of Communications Andrea Clark, who said in an interview with Patch that without the holdover $2.6 million, the 2021-22 budget increase would be 3.88 percent rather than 5.32 percent.

The district is continuing to budget for virus-related costs next school year.

“We’re taking the advice of experts that say to us that September, October, we may still find ourselves wearing masks and engaging in other mitigation strategies,” Cummings said.

Coronavirus spending in the coming academic year is expected to be lower than in the current year, and will not include the district’s Remote Learning Academy, according to Cummings.

The district’s highest budget increases by far for 2021-22 are $3.1 million (1.68 percent) for benefits, $2.2 million (1.22 percent) for salaries, $1.6 million (0.89 percent) for building operations and maintenance, and $1.4 million (0.77 percent) for transportation.

The majority of the budget — 60.8 percent — is made up of staff salaries. Another 17.6 percent consists of benefits.

“The Superintendent called me yesterday to inform me of the overall Board of Education increase of 5.32%,” First Selectwoman Brenda Kupchick said in a prepared statement. “It’s a really large number, nearly $10 million more than this year’s budget. We're going to have to sit down and take a hard look at the details and identify some ways to save the taxpayers from a large tax increase. I look forward to having these conversations as we move forward in the budget process.”

The school board will begin its dedicated budget meetings Tuesday and is set to approve the budget Jan. 28. The budget will then be considered by the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance and Representative Town Meeting.

For more information on the budget, visit bit.ly/39wZvqY.