Norwich, CT: Enrollment stable;"district has seen a serious surge in the number of SPED students"

April 2, 2018, New London (CT) Day: Proposed Norwich budget is up 2.4 percent https://www.theday.com/article/20180402/NWS01/180409848 City Manager John Salomone presented a $126.8 million combined city government and school budget proposal for 2018-19 to the City Council Monday. … … The Board of Education on March 13 approved an $83 million budget with a $6.88 million increase over the current budget. … However, the increase in education funding is not on par with what the school board requested. … But, Superintendent Abby Dolliver said that the school district has lived off grants and cuts for a number of years and now “absolutely needs a 9 percent increase to continue.” She added that although enrollment has been stable, the district has seen a serious surge in the number of special education students, as well as English as a Second Language students. In fact, Dolliver said that there are now nearly 600 ESL students in the district, and there have been 100 new special education students since 2016. …