The Board of Finance in Brookfield will be presented the Board of Education’s proposed budget at its workshop meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the Brookfield High School library.
The school board’s proposal of $40 million, or a 4.66 percent increase, is one that plans for an expansion of the district’s world language program so that Spanish is taught in all of the elementary grades, and middle school and high school are able to select from three languages rather than just Spanish and French. The third language option has yet to be selected, however, school district leaders have suggested Mandarin Chinese in the past as it is emerging as a popular language for students to be competitive academically.
The Board of Selectmen has approved a budget that reduces that budget to just $20,000 more than the current budget, alarming school leaders and supporters who fear that the impact will be severe on staff and students. The selectmen also proposed transferring the cost of the district’s two school resource officers, a cost of $235,000, from the Police Department into the education budget. Again, some school leaders are opposed to this approach.
This meeting will be a presentation, not a public hearing, although public comment will be allowed at the beginning and end of the session.