The document summarizes the superintendent's proposed budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year. It outlines a proposed 3.1% budget increase to $17,890,900. Key points include that salaries and benefits make up 75% of costs, enrollment levels are expected to remain unchanged, and the budget maintains a focus on efficiencies and shared service agreements while expanding student programming. The next steps outlined are for the board of education to receive detailed budget books and adopt a budget at their March 15th meeting.

1. Superintendent’s Proposed Budget for
FY 2017-18
“A legacy of learning and leading”

2. Budget Development Process
Month Date Activity
November 10 Budget forms and budget allocations distributed to each School/Department
December 21 School/Department budget due back to Central Office
January 9 - 13 School/Department budget reviewed by Superintendent/Business Manager
January 14 - 31 Business Office - system wide budget due (salaries, transportation)
February 6 BOE Finance sub committee budget work session (1 of 2)
February 14 BOE Facilities and Technology sub committee budget work session
February 27 BOE Finance sub committee budget work session (2 of 2)
March 1 Superintendent presents the 2017-18 Budget to the BOE
March 15 Board of Education Adopts 2017-18 Budget
March 20 Superintendent presents the 2017-18 BOE Approved Budget to the BOF
April 3 Finance sub committee (if needed)
April 5 Board of Education 2017-18 Budget modification and approval (if needed)
April 10 BOE budget submission to the newspaper
April 26 Superintendent presents the 2017-18 BOE Approved Budget to the Town of Litchfield
May 10 Annual Town Meeting for budget adoption

3. Superintendent’s Budget Highlights
Proposed Budget at $17,890,900 or 3.1%
• The Superintendent reduced the School Administration’s proposed budget by
$580,127 from 6.5% to 3.1%
• Salaries and benefits equal ~75% of the schools operating costs
• The Full Time Equivalency (FTE) are unchanged based on anticipated enrollment levels
• School services are directly impacted by the quantity and experience of the staff employed
• Expanded student programming to include
• Summer Academies
• Legacy Program
• Support of the one-to-one technology initiative
• Additional preschool sections
• The administration will continue to maintain a strong operational focus on
• Improving efficiencies
• Entering into positive shared service agreements i.e. (Food Services, Fuel Oil, Health Insurance)
• Student safety and energy efficiencies

4. District Accomplishments
PK-12 alignment
• Rubicon Atlas curriculum platform updates
• SRBI Committee developing aligned practices, protocols and procedures
• K-12 Coordinator monthly meetings
• Social/Emotional Learning Curriculum
Professional Development
• Columbia Teachers College staff developer at LCS with expansion to LIS in 2017-2018
• PK-12 district-wide PD focused on student engagement and CCT Rubric
• PDEC work on evaluation document and professional learning plan for teachers
Programs
• Legacy Program
• Preschool enrollment increase
• Summer Reading Program expansion at LCS
• Collaboration with Greenwoods Counseling Referrals and the Litchfield Prevention Council on
parent and teacher workshops
• Increased student retention related to Middle School programming
• Alternative programming addressing the need for Special Education outplacements

5. National Rank
(out of 15,819)
School Name State Graduation
Rate
College
Bound
College
Readiness
Poverty
39 Weston High School CT 99.4 98.2 87.5 2.7
56 Wilton High School CT 99.1 95 85.3 2.4
116 Avon High School CT 99.2 92.9 82.5 6.8
151 Ridgefield High School CT 98.2 90.1 80.6 3.1
224 East Lyme High School CT 97.5 90.3 78.2 8.3
267 Haddam-Killingworth High School CT 98.8 92.2 77.7 8.2
286 Farmington High School CT 98.8 92 77.3 10.3
325 Pomperaug High School CT 97.3 91.9 76.5 4.5
339 Newtown High School CT 96.3 92 76.2 6
348 South Windsor High School CT 99.1 90.1 75.8 10.1
364 Litchfield High School CT 100 88.6 75.5 12.5
371 Cheshire High School CT 99 99.2 76.4 7.2
384 East Hampton High School CT 100 89.6 75.1 10.4
389 Valley Regional High School CT 98.9 87.1 74.6 10.6
407 Woodstock Academy CT 99.7 86.7 74.3 3.2
471 Lyme-Old Lyme High School CT 98.9 86.7 72.8 5.4
Those measurements and their weight are:
Holding power: 1 0 percent
Ratio of counselor/full-time equiv alent to student enrollment: 1 0 percent
Weighted SAT/ACT: 1 7 .5 percent
Weighted AP/IB/dual enrollment composite: 1 7 .5 percent
Graduation rate: 20 percent
College enrollment rate: 25 percent
Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to achiev e a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how
well high schools prepare students for college.
In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met
the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.

6. Operational Highlights
• Safety and Security- Improved safety and security of the School Campus:
Sally-ports, outside cameras, window film, and vendor background checks
• Energy Efficiency Initiative- LED Lighting / Sally-Ports
• Campus Beautification- Signage, landscaping, walkways, interior upgrades
• Food Services- better service and a decreased subsidy to the district
• Information Technology- Reorganization, Multi-Year Capital Plan, Infrastructure Audit
• Consortium/Shared Services Agreements- Fuel Pricing, Food Service, Health Care
• Custodial Services- Returning custodial service contract to the BOE-May 7th, 2017
• Finance- Clean Audits, improved reconciliation between the schools and the town, monthly updates to
BOE and BOF, and ratification of all three union contracts completed
• Special Education Student Records- have been scanned to an electronic form for ease of accessibility
• Taxpayers in mind- We have accomplished this with modest school budget increases that average <2.5%
over a three year period

7. Salaries, 58%
Benefits, 16%
Custodial Services, 6%
Special Education, 5%
Regular Transportation, 5%
Plant Operations, 3%
Information Technology, 2%
Pupil Services, 2%
District Wide Services, 2%
Regular Instruction, 1%
Outside Tuition, <1%
SUPERINTENDENT'S PROPOSED BUDGET 2017-18

8. Regular Instruction
Budgeted at $234,260 (3.5%)
• Regular Instruction makes up 1.2% of
the overall school budget
• Includes High School Digital Art Studio
• Expansion of Summer Reading
Program to include Math & Writing
• Funding for the Legacy Program

9. Special Education
Budgeted at $957,050 (1.5%)
• Special Education makes up 5.0% of
the overall operating budget and is
difficult to forecast
• We anticipate the net cost of
outplaced tuition to decrease
• Outplaced student transportation
costs have increased due to individual
needs
• Outplaced student transportation is
not included in the All-Star Contract;
this is typically done through local
livery services

10. Pupil Services
Budgeted at $333,941 (-8.3%)
• Pupil Services makes up 1.8% of the overall
operating budget
• Guidance Services budgeted for curriculum
improvement ($18,000) which is connected to an
unfunded state mandate
• Prior budgets included a Food Service Subsidy
that was funded under Student Activity Support
(program 42). This subsidy was moved to Food
Services (program 80) included in the District
Wide Services
• This change provides more transparency for
tracking the subsidy for future years.
• The Food Service Subsidy was previously
budgeted at $46,000 and subsequently reduced
to $16,000 because of the operational changes
made last year.

11. Salaries & Wages
58%
Budgeted at $10,983,065 (4.4%)
• Salaries and Wages makes up 58% of the
overall operating budget
• Teacher wages equal ~ 30% of the increase
• Special Education Instruction wages equal
~40% of the increase
• one position added (2016-17)
• internal movement of staff
• State and Federal Grant Funding is
decreasing which equals ~20% of the
increase
• a transfer back to the General Fund
• All other wage changes equal ~10% of the
increase

12. Enrollment Levels
School Year PK K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 PK-12 Legacy Outplaced **
Actual 2016-17* 40 69 65 68 59 55 69 66 78 83 82 72 65 75 946 4 28
Est. 2017-18 52 72 69 65 70 59 55 69 66 79 84 83 72 65 960 4 24
Net 12 3 4 -3 11 4 -14 3 -12 -4 2 11 7 -10 14 0 -4
*March 1st, 2017
** Outplaced students are not included in PK-12 totals but are the fiscal responsibility of Litchfield

13. Employee Benefits
16%
Budgeted at $3,035,295 (8.2%)
• Employee Benefits makes up 16% of the
overall operating budget
• Health Insurance makes up 2/3 of employee
benefits.
• Health Insurance is estimated to increase
15%. School and Town employees
participate in the same self-insured pool
• OPEB is funded at the direct cost amount
not the ARC
• The school budget includes $236,000 for
employees that participate in the Town
Pension Program

14. District Wide Services
Budgeted at $326,199 (9.6%)
• District Wide Services makes up 1.7% of
the overall operating budget
• Board of Education budget includes an
increased cost related to legal services.
It also includes prorated share of the
annual audit.
• Continues the commitment to fund
staff professional development
activities
• Includes Food Services (previously
budgeted under Pupil Services)

15. Plant Operations
Budgeted at $645,407 (12.2%)
• Plant Operations makes up 3.4% of the
overall operating budget
• Building Furniture was budgeted in the
School budget since it was removed from the
Towns Capital Budget ($41,919)
• Café Tables- Center School
• Auditorium Microphone System- Auditorium
• Student Workspaces- MS/HS
• Building Utilities
• Fuel oil is up from $1.56/gal to $1.90/gal +18%
increase
• Electric budget was unchanged and includes the
payment for the LED lighting upgrade - ~net zero

16. Information Technology
Budgeted at $336,004 (-31.4%)
• Information Technology makes up 1.8% of
the overall operating budget
• The BOE Facilities and Technology Sub-
Committee reviewed the 5 year
technology improvement plan
• Hardware (-39%)
• Teachers desktops
• Student Chromebooks
• SmartBoards
• Software (-6.5%)
• Includes all district software applications and
renewal licenses

17. Regular Transportation
Budgeted at $944,178 (-1.0%)
• Regular Transportation makes up 5.0% of the overall
operating budget
• The overall transportation budget is decreasing due to
the successful negotiation with the existing
transportation vendor
• Through negotiation the district was able to consolidate
a bus route and replace the existing school bus fleet by
next year
• Allowed by State Statute 10-220(a) and in compliance
with the BOE procurement policy
• The daily rate was commensurate with nearby districts
• Athletic & Field Trip costs are estimated to increase due
to a decrease in teacher driver participation

18. Outside Tuition
Budgeted at $95,500 (-40.7%)
• Outside Tuition makes up 0.5% of the
overall operating budget
• Vo-Ag Tuition- decreased from 21 to
12 students (-$60,783)
• Magnet School Tuition- decreased
from 2 students to 1 (-$5000)
• Adult Education - Unchanged

19. Custodial Services
Budgeted at $1,100,000
(Transfer from the Town of Litchfield)
• Custodial Services will make up 5.8% of the overall
operating budget
• No impact on the Taxpayers of Litchfield
• After several years of consideration the BOE
terminated the 2012 Custodial MOU with the
Town of Litchfield (November 2016)
• Budgeted at 0% increase based on the prior
year Town Budget
• Includes 15 custodians & 1 manager position,
and the related supplies and equipment

20. Next Steps
• Tonight you will receive the Superintendent’s
Proposed Budget Books, which include line item
budget detail
• Copies of these books will be shared with the
Board of Finance tomorrow, allowing time to
review before the Superintendent’s presentation
on March 20th
• Over the next few weeks, the school
administration will be available to answer budget
questions
• Please direct all inquiries through Central Office
• We are asking the BOE to adopt an operating
budget at the March 15th meeting

21. Thank you for your dedication and ongoing
support of the Litchfield Public Schools