The school superintendent Tuesday requested a 7.82 percent increase in spending in her $78.2 million proposed 2013-14 budget.
Patricia Charles's presentation indicates that 75 percent of her spending package is allocated for Middletown School District staff salaries and benefits and a good chunk of the remainder goes to transportation costs, tuition for students attending outside schools, supplies, and purchased services like include utilities, professional development, and legal, medical and fiscal services.
Out-of-district tuition, Charles says, represents special education schools in Hamden, Plainville, Cromwell, North Haven, New Britain and Hartford (an average per-student cost of $57,000 annually) and regular education in Hartford, Bloomfield, Meriden, East Hartford and Windsor (at an average per-student cost of $5,195 annually.
A Special Education Excess Cost Grant pays for 65 percent of tuition, Charles says.
In December, the Middletown Board of Education accepted $455,000 in budget cuts and upped meal prices to ease a significant gap in the district's spending plan, approving Charles's recommendation to increase the cost of breakfast beginning in January from 85 cents to a dollar, and lunch by 25 cents, upping the cost to $2.50 at the elementary level, $2.75 for middle school and $3 at the high school.
The 2012-2013 budget of $72.55 million represents a 2.54 percent increase over the previous year's spending plan. The 2011-2012 budget of $70.75 million was a 1.73 percent increase over the prior year.
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