Jefferson School Committee members Walter Greene-Morse (left) and Forrest Bryant raise their placards in support of a warrant article during the education budget meeting at Jefferson Village School on Tuesday, May 23. (Alexander Violo photo)
A handful of Jefferson voters offered near-unanimous support to approve the 2017-2018 education budget without changes during an open meeting at Jefferson Village School the evening of Tuesday, May 23.
The budget is $5,494,147.06, a decrease of $197,881.40 or 3.48 percent.
About 15 voters attended the annual budget meeting. The approved budget will now go to a budget validation referendum – a secret-ballot vote to confirm the results of the open meeting – which will take place Tuesday, June 13. The polls will be open at the fire station from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
AOS 93 Superintendent Steve Bailey said the biggest increases in the budget are in the categories of student and staff support and facilities maintenance.
“This is a budget that reflects the needs of the building and the school department,” Bailey said.
Speaking prior to voting on the warrant’s 18 articles, Bailey said $27,000 of the budget will go toward the replacement of aging technology hardware at JVS.
Bailey said the facilities and maintenance portion of the budget includes $63,000 for a maintenance supervisor or contract service.
The Jefferson School Committee and the Jefferson Budget Committee approved the budget to present to voters during a joint meeting May 1.
Bailey thanked members of both committees for their efforts. “Both boards worked hard to approve all articles,” Bailey said.
The budget breaks down by category as follows, in order by amount: regular instruction, $2,225,438.08, decrease of $14,309.42 or 0.64 percent; special education, $990,309.72, decrease of $25,010.06 or 2.46 percent; facilities maintenance, $467,421.91, increase of $143,873.73 or 44.47 percent; transportation and buses, $314,398.78, decrease of $149,776.11 or 32.27 percent; student and staff support, $207,389.34, increase of $37,917.40 or 22.37 percent; school administration, $178,375.33, increase of $1,155.97 or 0.65 percent; system administration, $112,288.31, decrease of $6,675.90 or 5.61 percent; and other instruction, $27,800.06, decrease of $3,867.05 or 12.21 percent.
