(5/27) After two budget workshop meetings, and two regular School Board meetings held throughout April and May, Fairfield Area School District (FASD) voted to approve their nearly $18.4 million budget for fiscal year 2019/2020.

During an initial overview of the budget back in March, the district faced a deficit of nearly $350,000, but by the second review at the end of April, the deficit stood at $357,000. At the first budget workshop in May, the revenues had increased significantly, but still left the Board with a deficit of nearly $498,000 to account for.

The increase in revenues, as explained by the district’s Business Manager, Caroline Royer, can be attributed to a rise in earned income taxes and transportation subsidies, as the district is receiving more reimbursement for transportation. The increase seen in expenditures from March through May are due to several additions to the budget, including: the proposal of three new elementary school classroom aides; a map assessment and professional development; new science textbooks and kits for kindergarten through 4th grade; new curriculum writing; fire extinguishers in the art room; panic buttons and safety bollards at the entrances of the school building; and increases in staff travel and conferences.

Other expenses that had been accounted for when the budget was originally proposed in March included district-wide and classroom technology equipment upgrades. New laptops, chrome books, desktops and projectors were budgeted for use throughout the elementary school, middle school and high school. Nathaniel Makar, Technology Coordinator for the district, noted that the purchase of the aforementioned equipment is a continuous project in which the school replaces pieces of the older equipment in small batches every year.

Capital projects proposed for the school included: replacing the wrestling mat which is nearly 30 years old; replacing the lockers in the boys’ locker room; replacing the floors in three of the elementary classrooms; fixing the roofing wall panel in an effort to fix ongoing leaks; and upgrading the elementary school’s fire alarm panel. Funds allocated for capital projects totaled $116,000.

Discussion at the first meeting in May had some Board members looking to cut funding from the IT/technology department including cameras, new laptops, desktops and the chrome books. In defense of his department, Maker argued that the 30 desktops he was looking to replace are intended to supplement an entire business classroom. Many of the desktops were purchased refurbished and don’t take the Windows 10 program very easily. Additionally, the chrome books have been working very well for the younger children, teachers even utilize them for their testing. Purchasing cases for the chrome books would also extend the life of those that would be purchased.

Other members of the Board were completely against cutting technology items or items budgeted for the students. One Board member argued that budgeted items for the students didn’t come in nearly as high in price as upgrades to the building did. It doesn’t seem fair to cut things from the students that may inhibit their education.

On May 13, the Board voted to approve a balanced budget, with a 2.7% tax increase bringing the tax millage rate to 10.7421. This tax increase gave the district $225,000 in additional funds, and will come at a cost to the taxpayers of $63. Some items and their funding that were reduced significantly or cut completely included: web monitoring, new teacher laptops, map professional development, safety bollards and panic buttons. The budget, and tax increase, was accepted unanimously.