She did so at the last workshop, which took place Monday, before the budget is officially presented tonight.
The budget presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Windham High School Media Center, located at 355 High St.
The most recent scenario, created based on recommendations of the board’s vice chairman, Murphy Sewall, shows a $1,797,536 increase or 3.79 percent.
The final, approved budget for fiscal year 2017-18 was $60,307,979, an increase of $558,925 or 1 percent over 2016-17.
The latest bump to 2018- 19 spending was caused by an increase in technology, transportation and other expenses.
These items have been the subject of discussion since budget talks started. And, although the transportation allocation shows a hike, it’s not exactly an increase, but rather a realization of an actual amount, Sewall said.
According to Sewall, the board has been under- budgeting transportation, having to reallocate money mid-year when the funds would run out.
This year, he said, there should be transparency.
That’s why the proposal is to add an additional $300,000 to transportation, bringing the total increase to $500,000.
Many board of education members ag- reed budgeting the actual amount is the way to go.
“I’d rather have the full amount of transportation being in the line item,” said Windham Board of Finance Chairman Thomas White, who attended the meeting. “ I’d rather know what the exact cost for transportation is.”
Additionally, the proposal was to increase technology by $269,500, bringing the total technology line item to $430,000.
This includes teacher laptops, a server and Chromebooks.
With this, both technology and transportation combined would have an increase of $ 569,500, but it was reduced to $546,665 during the workshop, by reducing the technology hike.
All these numbers are not final.
The board has been working on the budget since last October, discussing various scenarios presented by Garcia.
This year, Garcia has presented a total of eight different budget scenarios to the board, ranging from increases of 7.5 percent to 3.19 percent.
“I’m happy to see you are looking at different options this year,” White said. “ I’m not recommending you to come at the lowest one and I’m certainly not recommending you need to come at the highest level.”
After the budget is presented tonight, residents will be able to ask questions on March 12 at 6 p.m. at Windham Center Fire Department during a budget forum.
The formal board of education budget presentation to the board of finance is tentatively scheduled for March 14.
The budget hearing will be April 24, with a town meeting slated for May 1.
That town meeting is expected to adjourn to the budget referendum, which is scheduled for May 8 — when education, general government and Willimantic Service District spending plans will be decided.
©2018 The Chronicle (Willimantic, Conn.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
