The amount of money the school district is budgeting to spend on staff developers to train teachers will nearly double or more than double in some instances in the 2016-17 school budget proposal.

The amount at the elementary schools on professional trainers increases from $23,200 to $88,700 in the proposed budget. The amount at the high school increases from $12,000 to $23,120, according to a budget breakout provided by Assistant Superintendent Kimberly Beck.

The amount at the middle school would also increase, but not by as much. The total proposed for “job-embedded learning and training,” is $217,820.

That figure is more than a quarter of the total $771,120 earmarked in the budget for curriculum programming planning and training, which is .008 percent of the total $91.37 million school budget request, up $5.3 million, or 6.16 %, from the current $86.07 million.

It is the largest increase asked for in years, in a town where school budget increases have been as low as .98 percent in recent years.

School administrators called for a special meeting of the Board of Education on Feb. 18 to explain the plans for increased teacher training.

The administrators want to show how more money is needed to bring the district up to speed in the more demanding educational environment.

“People have to understand how education is lagging, and how it’s changing,” said board member Scott Mason. “The public has to know why it’s so important to do things things we want to do. They just look at the number of the increase, and they say ‘you’re out of your mind.’”

Professional training has never been more necessary, said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen Baldwin.

“This is a commitment,” Baldwin said of the plan to spend more on teacher training. “There’s never been a more dynamic time in public education.”

It’s important to get this information about where the money is going to the public, said board member Karen Sulzinski.

The next step in the budget process is a public hearing Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at Scotts Ridge Middle School. The Board of Education is expected to take action on the superintendent’s budget request at its regular meeting Monday, Feb. 22, at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Annex.

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