The Board of Finance has been holding budget discussions with town department heads, boards and commissions ahead of a public budget hearing scheduled for March 24 at Samuel Staples Elementary School. Residents will hear details of the Easton Board of Education’s budget proposal and the spending needed to run the town in the 2025-26 fiscal year.
Residents will also have the opportunity to comment on the proposed budget at a town meeting tentatively scheduled for April 28 before voting on the request in early May. The full Board of Finance 2025-26 budget calendar is available for review on the Easton website.
The Easton Board of Education, at its Feb. 11 meeting, approved a $20,830,787 budget proposal for the upcoming school year, an increase of $1,312,980 over this year’s $19,524,827 budget (or 6.72%), according to the board-approved budget posted on the school board’s website.
Randy Hicks, Easton Board of Education chairman, cited higher levels of students identified as needing special education services — a local, state and national trend — as the main source for the budget increase. Easton isn’t an outlier, he said.
“I don’t see a reversal,” Hicks said. “Maybe it will start to flatten in the coming years.”
First Selectman David Bindelglass said he understands the difficulties in keeping up with special education costs not only here, but statewide.
“I understand the challenges of providing services, particularly for our special education students, which is a problem that is not at all confined to Easton compared to the state and compared nationally,” he said.
School Superintendent Dr. Jason McKinnon told the board during his budget presentation on Feb. 11 that the current special education budget is over budget. There are several areas that are coming in over what was budgeted in the 2024–25 budget, he said, which led to the 18% increase requested for Special Education next year.
Last year, an increase in the number of Easton students receiving special education resulted in a $1.1 million deficit in the 2023-24 education budget. The district needed to hire additional staff to complete Individualized Education Plans, which are required by law for every student receiving special education services. Taxpayers approved a funds transfer to make up part of the shortfall.
In addition, a number of other budget lines came in over budget when anticipated reimbursements came in under estimates, with a shortfall between what was budgeted and what was received reaching $259,000.
While the overall budget costs are estimated to be slightly lower to fund Samuel Staples Elementary School next year, the costs to fund Helen Keller Middle School are expected to rise by 7%.
The current budget for Staples is $5,680,005, but the board predicts it will need $5,660,210 for the next school year, a decrease of 0.35%. That decrease is attributable to the need for one less teacher and fewer books.
The board budgeted $4,015,468.39 to operate Keller next year, which is $262,802.35 more than this school year’s budget. Increases are included for administration, certified staff and professional development costs.
Bindelglass clarified that he only first saw the proposed budget on March 3, so his comments are preliminary.
“It is a bigger increase than we have seen from the Board of Education,” he said of the proposed 6.7% overall increase request. “I think that is fair to say that is somewhat of a concern.
“However, I have also spent four years on the Board of Education, so I understand how difficult it is to formulate a budget that is both cost conscious, but also serves the needs of our students.”
Bindelglass also emphasized that “there will be an opportunity for the Board of Finance to further review the budget request and then we’ll see where we end up.”
“The good news is the town side of the budget came in almost 3% less than this year’s budget,” Bindelglass said, “so that helps with the overall budget.”
Hicks identified other reasons for the budget increase, including the expiration of federal grants after the Covid pandemic and lower excess cost reimbursement from the state that contributed to the rising education costs, along with contractual teacher salaries.
“We are grateful to the Board of Finance and the community and hopeful the town continues to value and support the school system,” Hicks said.
Board of Finance Chairman Art Laske said the proposed increase is larger than usual but also noted that the board will continue to review the budget as part of the ongoing process to see if there are areas that can be cut or reduced.
Laske also noted that “the town’s budget came in more than 2% lower than this year’s budget,” which gives the board some potential leeway.
“We will be going over the budget to see if there’s anything we think should be reduced,” Laske said. The goal is to keep taxes stable and the fact that the town budget decreased makes that an achievable target, according to Laske.
If the budget process continues to go according to the posted schedule, residents will vote on both the town and education budgets, including the Region 9 budget for Joel Barlow High School, in early May.
