The first proposed budget of Superintendent of Schools Deborah Wheeler is now in the hands of the Board of Education. On Monday, it will come under the scrutiny of the Board of Finance.

Wheeler, who is in her first full school year as superintendent, presented a proposed budget of $16,368,581 for 2010-11 to the school board on Wednesday. The proposal is $454,581, or 2.86 percent, higher than this year's budget of $15,914,000.

School board members plan to review the proposal over the next couple of weeks and are expected to consider adopting it in mid-March. Wheeler will present the plan to the Board of Finance Monday at 7 at the intermediate school.

The proposed budget calls for cutting 7.1 staff positions to save $294,200. Included in the cuts are 3.6 teaching positions, one of which is a first-grade post at Center School. The position can be cut, Wheeler said, because first-grade enrollment is projected to drop next year.

Other positions to be cut come in the areas of music and world language at the high school. A school psychologist position will also be cut.

Some parents came to the school board's meeting Wednesday to raise concern with Wheeler's initial plan to institute a pay-to-pay policy for sports. The planned policy, however, has been scrapped, Wheeler said after comments from the public.

"Pay-to-play is double taxation against a specific group," resident John Hula said. "Penalizing kids who play sports to raise revenue, I can't see how you could consider that as an option."

The policy would have produced an estimated $40,000 in revenue. Kelly Garden, who serves on the Board of Finance, called the $40,000 "chump change" compared to the estimated $200,000 the school board could save had staff agreed to Wheeler's request for wage concessions.

The $200,000 would have come from the unions representing teachers, administrators and non-certified staff agreeing to give up six months of negotiated wage increases in 2010-11.

All three unions turned down the request. Administrators, however, agreed to two unpaid furlough days, which will save $8,000. The administrators' union includes principals and the director of special services. Wheeler, Business Manager Pat Buccitelli and facilities manager Tony Crowe aren't represented by the administrators' union but also agreed to take the two unpaid furlough days.

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