As your Superintendent of Regional School District 11, I write to respectfully request your support for our revised school district budget in the upcoming referendum. After listening carefully to community feedback following the initial vote, we have worked diligently to present a fiscally responsible proposal that maintains educational excellence while addressing your concerns about cost.
Our revised budget represents a 2.88 percent increase from last year—a significant reduction from the 3.66 percent increase in our initial proposal. This conservative approach demonstrates our commitment to balancing quality education with fiscal restraint. Importantly, this increase remains well below both state and regional averages, proving our dedication to responsible stewardship of taxpayer dollars.
To achieve these savings, we made difficult but strategic decisions that had the smallest impact on students, staff, families, and instruction. We eliminated two undersubscribed team sports programs, Cheerleading and Golf, which served fewer students while consuming disproportionate resources. Additionally, we restructured leadership at the high school, replacing the Assistant Principal position with a Dean of Students role. While we will sacrifice some administrative capacity, we will still be able to address our current disciplinary and student support needs while reducing costs.
These changes were not made lightly, but they reflect our commitment to maximizing every dollar’s impact on student learning. The remaining budget preserves essential programs, maintains competitive teacher salaries to retain quality educators, and ensures safe, well-maintained facilities for our children. Further, this budget continues to provide us with the programming necessary to allow us to recruit students outside of the town of Chaplin, Hampton, and Scotland, all of whom reduce the assessment on our three communities.
This budget represents more than numbers on a spreadsheet—it’s an investment in our community’s future. Quality schools protect property values, attract young families, and create the educated workforce our local businesses need to thrive. I understand the burden of increased costs during challenging economic times. However, this conservative, thoughtfully crafted budget strikes the right balance between fiscal responsibility and educational excellence. Our children deserve nothing less.
Andrew Skarzynski, Superintendent
- B. The reduction to Hampton’s assessment in this revised budget is $13,000.