WESTBROOK — The $38.6 million school budget brought before city councilors for review includes a $2.3 million increase totaling 6.4 percent over the current operating budget.

Taxpayers will be asked to foot $20.4 million of the school’s fiscal year 2019 bill, a $1.1 million, or 5.8 percent increase over what taxpayers were asked to support for the current budget.

In June 2017, however, $453,890 in additional state aid was used to reduce the local share of the 2017-2018 school year budget to $18.8 million.

The projected increase in school spending in fiscal year 2019, as of earlier this month prior to the school committee adoption, would raise the school tax rate to $10.86 per thousand valuation, meaning an additional $176 in taxes for the owner of a $200,000 home or $264 more in taxes for the owner of a $300,000 home.

The City Council’s finance committee took time last week to review the spending plan, which Westbrook Superintendent Peter Lancia said is built with four goals in mind: to raise achievement, to expand capacity, to foster engagement of students and the community and to nurture citizenship for the 2,560 students who are expected to be part of the school system. This is a projected increase of 42 students, with the majority at the elementary school level.

Lancia said major cost increases to the fiscal year 2019 budget include $189,000 for three new positions: a social worker at the high school, two new elementary STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) teachers and a noon duty aide at the middle school; $900,000 increase in debt service due to the first payments of the construction projects at Saccarappa and Westbrook Middle School; $230,000 in upgrades to the doors and cameras inside and outside the high school, as well as contractual obligation increases and a technology refresh to replace 11-year-old laptops.

Finance committee member Victor Chau, who represents Ward 2 on the council, called into question the amount of projected increase of $615,000 for the new teaching contract (once successfully negotiated) and the projected $354,000 increase for staff health and dental benefits and asked if such an increase is typical, or expected moving forward.

“The biggest cost to the budget is always employees. Is there any way to get that number down or is that the cost of doing business and educating our children?” Chau asked.

“With a city our size, with the staff our size, it is about just under $1 million to just turn the page (from one school year to the next),” Lancia said.

Lancia said without quality teachers and staff, Westbrook’s schools wouldn’t be the schools they are.

“Education is a people business. Education is a social science. The most significant impact that a child can have is the relationship with the teachers and staff that work directly with them. That increases achievement. That increases engagement,” Lancia responded. “We really value the fact that we wrap a lot of support around our kids in a lot of ways.”

Chau also questioned the need for another technology upgrade.

“We spent a half million on laptops last year and we are asking for $98,000 more for more computers. The half million was not enough?” he asked.

Lancia said the technology upgrade last year was originally for 900 computers, but was pared down and this new request makes up for some of the ground lost.

Brendan Rielly, council president, wondered, with the request for an additional social worker, what the school district does to help those at risk emotionally or for substance abuse.

“When a student is identified as at risk, we pull out all the stops,” Lancia said. “Our administrators, our counselors, our social workers are kind of like first responders. They reach out to students. They take care of their immediate needs, they ensure their safety and work with the family to determine what the next step is and sometimes that next step includes resources outside of the school, but first steps are resources within.”

Within the school district, there are full-time guidance counselors and social workers at each of the schools, as well as a college and career counselor and substance abuse counselor at the high school. Much of the work the social worker does at the high school, Lancia said, is with students on individualized education plans. The additional social worker at the high school, if the position is funded, would help to provide services to all students. The district also has contracts with Woodfords Family Services, Spurwink and Sweetser for social services and works closely with the police department to address issues that may be popping up at home, as well with the Westbrook Children’s Project, a United Way of Greater Portland initiative.

The district is also looking to increase and improve social and emotional learning within the schools.

“I am happy to live here and have a school department that really cares about the students, finance committee Chairwoman Anna Turcotte, a Ward 5 representative, said.

Council Vice President John O’Hara asked Lancia if he felt the security improvement requests in the proposed capital improvement budget plan would address the security concerns over the next four years. Lancia said the school department has engaged a consultant from the  Cumberland County Sheriff’s office to audit school safety, first at the high school, and in time, at all the schools.

“As the years go on, we might need to budget for certain things. Saccarappa will be well taken care of after next year when the new building opens. The middle school will be upgraded as part of its renovation. As the assessments, the audits, are done at the other schools, our needs may become more specific,” Lancia said.

O’Hara said the security improvements are “prudent and need to be done,” but wondered who would manage the upgrades after they are put in place.

“In this day and age, it is a monster. It is a never-ending challenge. It’s a never-ending money pit,” O’Hara said of security, something he has to deal with all the time at his job at the Portland International Jetport. “Who is going to manage this monster? It is going to continue to grow. It is not going to shrink.”

“I hope when you look into your crystal ball there is a manager in there somewhere, because this is a system that needs to be managed and managed effectively, if it is going to work,” O’Hara said before requesting the matter of security and the school budget to be placed on the finance committee’s revisit list, which will be discussed after the council meeting Monday.

With the city finance review of the school budget underway, the council’s first reading of the total city budget, which includes both municipal and school spending, is set for Monday, April 30, with second reading and adoption Monday, May 7.

Voters will weigh in on the budget Tuesday, June 12.

Michael Kelley can be reached at 781-3661 x 125 or mkelley@keepmecurrent.com