Voters will have the chance to either restore funding for the state-mandated kindergarten program to the budget or leave it by the wayside at the deliberative session of the School District meeting on Feb. 5.

The school district’s proposed operating budget – roughly $54.7 million after the Budget Committee removed the $1.6 million planned for next year’s kindergarten program and a further $400,000 in staff costs – tops a list of 10 warrant articles headed before voters in March.

If the money for the kindergarten is not restored, Superintendent Michael Delahanty has warned that the district may have to make cuts elsewhere to comply with state legislation changing the state’s definition of an adequate education to include kindergarten.

Without the kindergarten money, the school district’s operating budget still represents a proposed tax rate increase of about 6.6 percent or about a $128 increase for an average homeowner with a house worth $300,000.

Were kindergarten and the staff funding restored, the operating budget impact on the tax rate would be 9.3 percent or about $181 more per the average $300,000 homeowner.

Salary increases
The district is also proposing to raise $411,642 to fund a step increase in salaries for teachers, nurses and student services specialists for the 2009-10 fiscal year. The 3 percent pay raise represents a 27-cent rise in the tax rate and is a result of the collective bargaining agreement reached between the School Board and the Salem Education Association.

The district is asking for a further appropriation of $37,353 to fund a 2 percent bump in wages and benefits for secretaries, representing an 8-cent impact to the tax rate.

Custodians, aides and food service personnel are also looking at potential salary increases if voters approve each of the three separate warrant articles up for deliberation. The district is asking for $87,910 for a 3 percent wage increase with a tax rate impact of 2 cents for aides and $45,319 for a 2.75 percent raise – with a 10-cent impact to the tax rate – for custodians. The district is asking voters for a further $21,954 to fund a 2.75 percent salary increase for food service personnel.

Residents will also have the chance to decide whether a warrant article that will direct the School Board to cap any increase of their annual budget to any increase in revenue from the previous annual budget. The warrant article – put forward by petition – would also limit the School Board to increasing the annual budget up to the rate of inflation as determined by the National Consumer Price Index.

The deliberative session is set for Thursday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m., at Salem High School.