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Kent Board of Ed presents budget

KENT — As part of the annual budget process, the 2024-25 Board of Education budget was presented for review at a regular meeting of the Board of Finance Wednesday, March 13.

As presented, the proposed budget submitted by the Board of Education for Kent Center School (KCS) shows an overall total of $5,121,157, an increase of $167,110 (3.37%) over the previous year’s budget. The Region One component totals an additional $2,538,879, an increase of $244,926 (10.68%) over the previous year’s budget.

When the two components, KCS and Region One, are combined, the overall total expense budget totals $7,660,036, an increase of $412,036 (5.68%) over the previous year’s budget.

Board of Education Chair Jenn Duncan presented the budget to the finance board reviewing the areas seeing change and describing enrollment figures.

The most current enrollment figure at KCS is 195 for pre-K through the eighth grade. Of those, 33 are tuition-paying students and six are nonpaying children of staff members. The current family tuition rate stands at $4,500 for the first child and $2,250 for each additional child.

Enrollment in pre-K stands at 14.

As of the October 2023 enrollment census, 37 students from Kent were enrolled at Housatonic Valley Regional High School.

Areas of increase in the education budget include the addition of a school-year armed security guard ($60,000), student transportation (up by $26,515), insurance (up by $6,990) and textbooks (up by $17,100).

The Board of Selectmen was scheduled to present the town budget to the Board of Finance Wednesday, March 20.

Leila Hawken

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