White Plains schools Superintendent Christopher P. Clouet has proposed a $192.9 million budget for the 2013-14 school year that adds two guidance counselors and security staffing and eliminates a total of nearly four teaching positions.
The plan, which will debated by the board of education through the next few weeks, takes into account what Clouet called a “significant” amount of teacher retirements, including two in the library that will allow the district to change the initial proposal to cut current staff hours in half, as well as increases in teacher retirement costs and health insurance. The school board will adopt a budget April 8. Residents will vote on it May 21.
The budget proposal is about $4 million more than the current budget, an increase of nearly 2.2 percent. If approved, the average homeowner will pay about 3 percent more in taxes than this year. The number is within the state’s property tax levy cap, which allows districts to discount some specific expenses over which they have no control in figuring out the total cost.
