Westport Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon is putting the final touches on his 2007-08 school budget proposal, which will be presented to the Board of Education on Friday.
Landon would not give an indication of how much his proposal would increase the current budget, but he did say he would ask for more teachers.
“We are trying to adjust for an increase in enrollment in some areas and a reduction in other areas,” he said. “The increases, however, are outweighing the reductions.”
It means there will be an increase in teachers, Landon said, but there will not be any increase in the number of administrators.
Landon said there is an issue of making up a $1 million cut from the insurance fund the Board of Finance made last spring during budget deliberations.
The cut has not hurt the school budget this fiscal year, he said, but the risk remains that there could be potential problems.
School officials would need assurance from the Board of Finance that they would maintain the insurance fund if there’s a problem without hurting the overall school budget, Landon said.
School officials have locked in electricity costs through a consortium approved last spring, he said, but there are other unknown utility costs.
Oil and natural gas costs, he said, are climbing and will continue to affect the budget.
The Board of Education will first discuss the proposal during its meeting at 8 p.m. on Monday and will hold an all-day budget session on Friday, Jan. 12 at the Westport Public Library.
