WATERFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS
FY 26 Superintendent’s Recommended Budget
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WPS MISSION STATEMENT
Waterford Public Schools is a community of learners that fosters and supports high aspirations, ensuring every student acquires the skills and knowledge necessary to be a responsible citizen, prepared to contribute and succeed in an ever-changing world.
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2024-2025 BOARD GOALS
• Execute and support the District’s Strategic Plan.
• Support high quality, effective professional learning; providing necessary resources of time and funding.
• Promote mental health approaches to reduce emotional stress among our students; and support the social and emotional intelligence and development of students.
• Engage families in the most meaningful ways possible with their children’s learning.
• Promote the features and benefits of all of the Waterford Public Schools to encourage Waterford families to send their children to our five public schools and to reach out to neighboring districts to explore opportunities for their students to attend Waterford High School.
• Assess the district’s growth and progress using a variety of assessments, information, evidence, and data to ultimately improve teaching and learning.
• Support the budget process in a challenging State and local fiscal environment and explore effective collaborative relationships in order to achieve collective savings and/or efficiencies.
• Support a positive school climate.
• Advocate for and build a district that promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion by creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive learning environment for all stakeholders.
• Assess class sizes and offerings at all Waterford Public Schools.
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STRATEGIC PLAN
WPS – On the Map!
• Focus on Youth Manufacturing Pipeline Initiative (YMPI) at WHS.
• 33 WHS Students passed the Seal of Biliteracy test: representing the languages of French, Latin, and Spanish.
• 16 WHS students auditioned and were selected to perform in the CT Eastern Region Music Festival.
• QH custodian was named a top 3 finalist for the CINTAS National Custodian of the Year contest.
• GN fourth grade student selected as a County Winner of Fire Prevention Poster Contest with artwork included in the Fire Prevention State Calendar.
• OSW visited by UCONN’s NEAG Early Childhood Leadership Cohort as an example of effective early childhood practices.
• QH STEAM Lab (Science, Tech, Engineering, Arts, and Math) provided students weekly, assured experiences in STEAM.
• 54 WHS students were recognized as College Board Advanced Placement Scholars: 30 AP Scholars, 9 AP Scholars with Honor and 15 AP Scholars with Distinction.
• 32 CLMS students were accepted into the Junior World Language Honor Societies for French, Spanish, and Latin.
• 1 WHS teacher received Fund for Teachers Fellowship Grant.
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OUR LEVERS TO SUCCESS
Rigorous Academic Program
Expansive Arts, Co-Curricular & Athletics Programs
Comprehensive SocialEmotional Learning Approach
High Quality Professional Learning for Staff
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State
Summative Assessment Report
State Summative Assessment Report of Spring 2024
Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA) Grades 3-8
Scholastic Aptitude Text (SAT) Grade 11
Science Assessment (NGSS) Grades 5 and 8
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State Summative Assessment Report
Connecticut's State Department of Education, Press Release, 2024
“Connecticut Students Show a Second Year of Improved Attendance and Mathematics and Science Scores. English language arts (ELA) scores are stable overall with improvements in some grades.”
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The Short Story…
➢ High School SAT Math Performance – Level (Up 10+% last year)
➢ High School Math Average Score – Up (11 Points)
➢ High School SAT ELA Performance – Up Slightly (~ 2%)
➢ High School ELA Average Score – Up (8 Points)
➢ Grades 3-8 Math Performance – Up (~ 3%)
➢ Grades 3-8 Math Growth - Up in Growth Rate and % of Target
Achieved
➢ Grades 3-8 ELA Performance – Level
➢ Grades 3-8 ELA Growth – Up in Growth Rate and % of Target Achieved
➢ District (Gr. 5, 8, 11) Science Performance – Slight Dip (2.75% = ~15
Students)
We
continue to respond comprehensively to our students.
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WPS responds…
This budget continues our investment in meeting the needs of our students in 2025-2026.
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Trends IN THE WPS
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Total Enrollment
Ten Year Trend by race /
ethnicity
Multilingual Learners (ML)
Languages in our Schools – 2024-2025
23 different languages
Albanian
Arabic Khmer Spanish - #1
Bulgarian Korean Tagalog
Burmese Lao Thai
Cantonese
Mandarin - #3 Tibetan
Greek Nepali Ukrainian
Gujarati Polish Urdu - #2
Hindi Portuguese - #4
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Over 11% of our families have a primary home language other than English.
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New Bilingual Programs
Great Neck 24-25 & Oswegatchie in 25-26
20 or more students with same native language
There are 60 districts in CT that have bilingual programs.
What this means for WPS:
• Instruction in English as well as student’s native language
• Enable students to achieve English proficiency and academic mastery
• Use of English should continuously increase
• Annual plan submitted to CSDE
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• Additional professional development for all teachers
• Potential staffing implications
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Special Education Students
Free / Reduced Meals
ABSENTEEISM TREND DATA
Source: CSDE, EdSight Public Chronic = more than 10% absent
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WPS School-Based Health Clinics
Board Goals:
Be a district for all students…
It takes resources to do this.
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THE BUDGET
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$875K in Grants in Last 6 Years
FISCAL YEAR $ GRANTS OBTAINED
FY 20 $ 170,466
FY 21* $ 82,493
FY 22 * $ 72,564
FY 23
$160,000
FY 24 $175,000
FY 25 $214,000
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REDUCES OUR BUDGET REQUEST * DECREASE DUE TO COVID-19
WHAT THIS BUDGET ACCOMPLISHES
• Respond to Current Conditions
• Provide a High-Quality Education
• Address our Strategic Plan Goals
• Maintain Current Programs and Offerings
• Maintain Reasonable Class Sizes
• Preserve Athletic and Extra-Curricular Programs
• Provide Quality Professional Development
• Sustain our Curriculum Renewal Cycle
• Execute our Preventive Maintenance Program
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Proposed Budget
99% of the increase for next year is:
➢ Salary Increases
➢ Health Insurance
➢ Chromebook Replacements
1% of the increase is everything else in the budget.
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Main Budget Drivers
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INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES OVERVIEW
Redeployment of FTEs
1.0 WHS English FTE 1.0 Multilingual Teacher .5 WHS Social Studies FTE 1.0 Multilingual Teacher .5 WHS World Language FTE 1.0 Elementary Classroom FTE 1.0 PreK FTE
Certified Additions (.25 FTE) + .25 WL FTE – CLMS ($25K) Other +2 Multilingual Tutors (not certified positions) ($75K)
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1,325,819 • 111 - Contractual Increases for Certified Staff
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SERVICE MINUTE GUIDELINES
Source: English Learners/Multilingual Learners in Connecticut's Public Schools — Guidelines for Administrators
SCHOOL STUDENT LEVELS SERVICE HOURS
Also required to support students, as needed, up to 2 years after proficiency achieved.
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FY25 VERSUS PROPOSED FY26 ML STAFF
SCHOOL
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SUPPORT SERVICES OVERVIEW
Additions
+1 IT Position - $60K
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BACKGROUND ON NEW IT POSITION
Software SystemsAdministrator
This position will assist with the administration of two critical systems within the District, PowerSchool and ClassLink. This new position directly supports staff and students and is responsible for ensuring the integrity, security, and performance of these vital systems.
• Assist with the development and enhancement of the PowerSchool platform
• Lead the development and enhancement of the Classlink platform
• Assist with and complete state reporting including, but not limited to: PSIS, ED166, CRDC, andAttendance
• Monitoring and troubleshooting: Proactively identifying and resolving technical issues to minimize disruptions in teaching and learning
• Gather and analyze K-12 data to share with stakeholders
• Support staff and students: Provide timely support for any issues related to user accounts, system access, or application performance
• Data management: Ensure that data flows smoothly across systems, including PowerSchool’s Data Warehouse and other platforms
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SUPPORT SERVICES
• 112 - Contractual Increases for all Support Staff
• 119 – Less Student Vocational Workers next year
• 122 & 132 – Based on trend / actuals
Salary Increase Breakdown
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EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
CONTRACTED SERVICES
TRANSPORTATION
$ Increase/Decrease
560 – Tuition, Other Public ( $ 39,688 )
563 – Tuition, Private ( $ 245,271 )
TOTAL ( $ 284,959 )
• 560 & 563 – Based on Individualized Education Programs (IEPs)
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OTHER PURCHASED SERVICES
$ Increase/Decrease 580 – Travel and Conferences
17,749 590 – Contracted Services
2,082 TOTAL $ 19,831
• 580 – Contractual Rate Increase on Athletics Travel
• 580 – Trend on Usage and Increased Costs to Attend Workshops
• 590 – Rate Increases
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INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPLIES
$ Increase/Decrease 440 – Rentals ( $ 2,500 ) 611 – Instructional Supplies $ 31,198 612 – Software $ 69,241 TOTAL $ 97,939
• 611 – Instructional Supplies – Cut Many Requests
o Inflation
o Food Costs for Culinary Program - $12K
o TAG Testing Materials - $4K
• 612 – Software – Primarily Product Rate Increases & Long-term Renewals
o Reduced – ( $34K )
o Long-term Renewals – ( $6K )
o Rate Increases on Existing Products - $61K
o New / Replacement Products - $49K
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Software Breakdown
Software Category $ Spend % Spend Examples
Student Assessment $ 25K 3%
Curriculum Related
180K 21%
Cyber Security $ 139K 17%
IT Operating Systems $ 63K 8%
School System $ 367K 44%
Special Education
Student Safety
13K 1%
43K 5%
Aimsweb, iReady, MAP
Online Texts, Newsela, SeeSaw, Edgenuity, Lexia Reading
Multifactor Authentication, Firewall, Content Filter, Disaster Recovery
Google Education, Single-Sign On, WiFi, Licensing
Financial Software, BoardDocs, Background Checks, Papercut, PowerSchool, SNAP, Translation
CTSEDS, RTI Direct, Dyslexia
Software
Gaggle, Camera System, Visitor Check-in Total
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831K 100%
TEXTBOOKS/LIBRARY BOOKS/OTHER SUPPLIES
Accounts
$ Increase/Decrease
641 – Textbooks $ 500
642 – Library Books and Periodicals $ 6,569
690 – Other Supplies/Materials ( $ 13,855 )
TOTAL ( $ 6,786 )
• 642 – Minor Increases to Support Non-Fiction and Multilingual Collection o Requests for more denied due to budget constraints
• 690 – Increase in Athletic Officials / Referees Fees
• 690 – Approx. $10K Budgeted for Vape Detection Pilot at WHS & CLMS
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EQUIPMENT
Accounts
$ Increase/Decrease
730 – Equipment $ 243,062
TOTAL $ 243,062
• Asked to move Chromebooks from Capital back to Operating - $197K
• Replacement for End-of-Life Diving Board - $42K
• New Pre-K Furniture and Supplies - $35K
• WHS CTE Program
• Begin Replacing Cooking Equipment - $26K
• Moving from Residential to Commercial Model
• Materials to support Manufacturing Program
• Part of Career Pathways work at WHS
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DUES & FEES
$ Increase/Decrease
810 – Dues & Fees ( $ 4,778 )
TOTAL ( $ 4,778 )
• Rate Driven
• Eliminated one item
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Main Budget Drivers
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COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
Thank you for believing in our staff, students and families of Waterford.
Your continued support will help us to provide exceptional programs for our students, preparing them for success and the best opportunity at a better life. THANK YOU!
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