WHATELY — Whately Elementary School’s three-member School Committee unanimously voted to recommend a $1,977,478 budget for the school’s fiscal year 2018 on Monday evening.
Of that, the School Committee has proposed to ask town constituents to cover $1,640,256 at annual town meeting April 25 — about a $40,000 increase, or 2.55 percent, over last year’s request of $1,599,454.
The remaining $357,222 will come from grants and revolving account services, including School Choice.
Addressing reliance on School Choice funds, Union 38 School District Superintendent Lynn Carey said the increased dependence on our School Choice reserves would decrease the overall burden to the four towns, but the practice would not be sustainable in the long term.
Carey said the district saw a 10.4 percent increase in health insurance costs this year.
Expenses budgeted in School Choice funding for the upcoming year total $316,433 — up from $228,870 in revenue last year.
Looking ahead, there will be a joint Frontier Regional School Committee meeting held April 6 at the North Main Street School where the budget will be discussed further.