Oxford School Committee approves budget, town next

By Steev Riccardo

OXFORD - The Oxford School Committee approved a budget of $14,899,948 for the 2012 school year this past Monday night at its regular meeting, and now it’s up to the Town of Oxford to put the final stamp on it in a town meeting on May 2.

The budget is an increase of roughly $600,000 from the 2011 budget of $4.3 million, which Oxford School Committee chairperson Brenda Ennis felt was much too small.

Once the town votes and approves the budget, the committee will be able to move forward with a list of line items they’ve already created.

“Once we know we have the money, that’s when we will look at adding in the positions, bringing in the programs that we want, and making sure that a lot of this budget goes back into the classroom,” said Ennis.

The school chairperson still feels that the budget is not big enough. “This $14.8 million is not sufficient because we have contractual obligations which have not been fulfilled. We are currently in negotiations with teachers, aides etc.”

Attending the meeting on Monday along with Ennis, were council members Marc Peterson, Susan Rivelli, Laura Coonan, and Stephen Anderson. The School Business Manager Richard Mathieu and the recording secretary Darcy Barton were also on hand.

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