Wallingford School Budget Proposal Cuts Teaching Positions

WALLINGFORD, CT — The Wallingford Board of Education will begin discussing Superintendent of Schools Salvatore Menzo's proposed budget for the 2021-22 school year next week.

Menzo presented two budget plans to the board on Wednesday night, including one that cuts several teaching positions.

Each year, the school board in Wallingford is presented with a two-pronged budget — a Sustained Services Budget and a Strategic Plan Budget. The sustained services budget represents the estimated costs needed to maintain the current services to the next year while the strategic plan includes funding needed to meet the school district's goals.

The initial sustained services budget was calculated to be $107.04 million, representing an increase of 1.19 percent. Menzo noted that the sustained services budget does not include the coronavirus expenses from this year.

He said if the district needs open next year with the same COVID-19 protocols it did this fall, along with offering a voluntary distance learning option, it could add around $2.64 million to the budget.

The sustained services budget also includes a reduction in staff based on enrollment decreases, according to Menzo.

The proposed budget calls for the reduction of three elementary school teachers based on enrollment, but Menzo noted it does not increase class size above the Board of Education’s approved thresholds. Cutting the positions would equal a reduction of $196,927, according to Menzo.

The budget also calls for a reduction in clerical positions in the district through attrition for a savings of $111,388.

Menzo also plans to increase the hours of the social worker at Sheehan High School and the district’s adult education counselor.

The first year of the top priorities of the strategic plan budget was calculated to be $992,792 for an increase of .94 percent, according to Menzo. The combined Sustained Services and Strategic Plan requests represent an increase of 2.13 percent.

The top priorities listed for the strategic plan budget include adding instructional coaches at the middle school level and adding a special education preschool teacher to work in preschool programs across the district.

In a message sent to parents this week, Menzo noted that as he’s said many times over the last 10 years, the budget process is a “marathon not a sprint.”

The Board of Education will hold workshop sessions on Jan. 27, Feb. 3 and Feb. 10. The meetings are scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be accessed on YouTube here.

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