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The budget of $111.2 million represents a 1.8 percent increase over the board’s 2014-15 school budget. Board of Education Chairman Michael Gordon called the RTM approval “an acknowledgment of the hard work performed by the Board of Education and the administration in producing a fiscally prudent and academically vibrant budget.
"Our now-approved budget for next year will launch many new initiatives across the district that keep the Westport schools on the leading edge in the classroom and beyond,” Gordon said.
Included in the approved budget are:
- a commitment to literacy coaches at all school levels;
- expansion of the design, engineering and computer programming courses at the secondary level;
- major investment in maintenance and building projects throughout the school system;
- an expansive effort to maximize security protection for students and staff in all schools;
- extension of music in the full-day Kindergarten program for an additional section per week;
- broadening of interdisciplinary programming in the secondary schools; and
- a commitment to engaging students in all programs that will best prepare them for life success in the 21st century
“Our school system has made incredible progress in recent years, and we will build on that progress with this very comprehensive and thoughtful budget," board Vice Chairman Jeannie Smith said. "I thank the RTM for approving it.”
On Monday night, the RTM unanimously approved a $78.9 million municipal budget for 2015-16, a 2.51 increase over the current year, according to WestportNow.com.
Westport’s total budget for next year is $202.5 million.
The tax increase effective July 1 will be 1 percent or less, according to WestportNow.com.
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