ROCKY HILL - Salary and benefit fixed increases, along with some staffing requests, has prompted a proposed 4.5 percent school budget jump-a Superintendent level draft presented to the Board of Education last week.

       Superintendent of Schools Mark Zito walked the Board through his $41 million total request, centering on a list of budget drivers topped by a contractually negotiated 2.7 percent step pay increase for employees within the teachers union.

       Salaries and benefits-from both contractual raises and requested additional staff-would encompass over 80 percent of the total budget, which is consistent with most districts, Zito said.

       â€�"If nothing else was increasing, the salaries alone would drive it up 2.1 percent,” he said.

       Then there’s the staffing-he’s requesting two additional teachers to address enrollment growth at Stevens Elementary School, as well as a school psychologist and technology support personnel.

       â€�"We have a growth issue that needs to be accommodated,” Zito said. â€�"If I had to make a recommendation to the Board today, I’d assign one [teacher] to Stevens and one to GMS. That would bring GMS back to two fifth grade classrooms.”

       The district has seen the influx of 202 students over the past 3 years-160 of which are at the elementary level, Zito said.

       Meanwhile, NESDEC projects elementary enrollment in Rocky Hill to go up 202 students in the next three years, he said.

       The hiring of a school psychologist would mark the first time the district has done so in more than a decade, and the tech support staff are needed for Rocky Hill’s 1-to-1 Chromebook device initiative, he said.

       â€�"The mental health needs are significant,” Zito said. â€�"We have students with significant issues, and we have a growing population.”

       Growing enrollment is a large part of what prompted the proposal of a new intermediate school project-approved by referendum this past Fall-as the district braces for continued upward trends with the construction of a fourth/fifth grade facility.

       Zito’s budget request includes up to two portable classrooms, which he has said will help determine the allocation of the two teachers-should they get them.

       Zito reminded the Board of last year’s budget cycle, which started with a requested 7.8 percent driven largely by overcrowding at West Hill Elementary. The addition of portables, as well as teachers, has helped greatly with that, and the district can now look to Stevens, he says.

       Other budget drivers include a projected 10 percent increase in health insurance costs-due mainly to spikes in premiums, as well as calculating in what would be additional costs of the new hires, Zito said.