By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
In stark contrast to the distress signal sounded last year by Washington-Caldwell school officials, this year’s district budget is more status quo.
Full details of this year’s operating budget and property tax levy will be shared with the public at the district’s annual meeting this coming Monday.
The levy, the district’s largest source of income, is expected to total $1.637 million, and the overall mill rate is expected to drop by about 43 cents, though there could be variables to that figure.
The Washington-Caldwell School Board on Oct. 19 gave a preliminary nod to the budget and levy details in anticipation of next week’s formal adoption.
The overwhelming majority of Washington-Caldwell’s boundaries fall within the Town of Waterford, but the K-8 feeder district does serve slivers of a few nearby municipalities as well.
The overall operating budget, hovering around $3 million, is expected to dip by 2.14 percent this coming year through a series of cost-cutting measures.
One of the most notable changes has come at the personnel level. Superintendent Mark Pienkos remains in the fold of district-level decision making at Washington-Caldwell, but he has scaled back his oversight to a part-time basis.
Principal Jill Saltzmann has assumed some of Pienkos’ administrative duties while retaining her existing title.
As a smaller district, Washington-Caldwell has long pooled its resources with other feeder districts that are within the Waterford Union High School footprint.
Case in point: the Washington-Caldwell School Board this week agreed to continue sharing staffing resources with North Cape School for two specialist positions this school year under a so-called 66:03 agreement that allows for such arrangements under state statutes.
Spanish teacher Julie Curci will continue dividing her time between the two districts, serving 60 percent of her time in Washington-Caldwell and the remaining 40 percent at North Cape.
Physical Education teacher Mark Collins also will continue dividing his time between the districts, splitting his time between Washington-Caldwell and North Cape.
A month-and-a-half into the school year, Washington-Caldwell is near the end of putting together its staffing picture. But there is one remaining position — a part-time custodian — that remains unfilled.
“We’re trying to remedy this issue,” Pienkos said at the Oct. 19 meeting. “But we don’t have any recommendations at this time.”
The cost savings maneuvers this year prevented the dire portrait painted a year ago, when the property tax levy had risen 15.12 percent to maintain the same level of programs and activities that had been offered previously.
Several reasons, including a decline in state aid, were cited for the increase in levy dollars. When administrators sounded the alarm, residents within the district were overwhelmingly supportive of raising taxes in favor of keeping the programs and activities in tact.
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