3.5% Budget Increase Proposed for Windsor Locks Schools

Schools officials presented a 2013-14 spending plan Tuesday night that is significantly less than what they were seeking in January and calls for the restoration of one and the creation of two new staff positions, along with a new athletic team at the high school.

Windsor Locks Superintendent of Schools Wayne Sweeney and school board Chairwoman Patricia King presented their proposal for education funding to the town finance committee asking for a 3.5 percent increase in funding over the next fiscal year.

The budget represents a roughly $1 million increase when compared to the current budget.

The proposal also represents a large change from the budget Sweeney presented to the Board of Education in January, which requested a 6.03 percent funding boost.

After weeks of deliberation, Sweeney said the proposal is one that works toward fulfilling the district’s mission (“student achievement at rates never before imagined”), while maintaining fiscal responsibility to taxpayers.

On the strength of favorable Connecticut Mastery Test scores, Sweeney touted significant student achievement just one year after the district was identified as an alliance district — one of the state’s 30 worst performing districts — by the state department of education.

Sweeney told members of the town finance committee that the district will continue to receive alliance grant funding from the state, but that it is no longer performing on the level of an alliance district.

“We’re now at a transformative stage,” Sweeney said.

With recent success, particularly at the elementary school level, Sweeney said he’s confident the 3.56 percent increase requested for education spending will be approved.

“Our board, the Board of Finance, the first selectman, they all know what we’re doing, and why we’re doing it. They’re also seeing the results that we’re getting. So I don’t see any obstacles whatsoever. I’m guardedly optimistic that they’re just going to give us 3.56 percent,” Sweeney said.

Notable differences in the proposed budget include funding for boys and girls lacrosse and the addition of three staff members.

Proposed positions include a technology support person, a social worker and a human resources director. The human resources director position was eliminated two years ago, according to Sweeney, when the district cut fifteen jobs to deliver a zero-percent increase budget.