The budget for services shared across the Island’s public schools will rise to $7.7 million in fiscal year 2023, a 3.9 per cent increase over last year.

Approved earlier this month by the all-Island school committee, the budget covers not only payrolls, benefits and offices for superintendent Dr. Matthew d’Andrea and other central administrators and staffers, but a range of programs from music to special education.

“The shared services budget impacts some of the most vulnerable kids on the Island,” said regional high school committee chairman Amy Houghton, who also serves on the all-Island committee.

Among the 67 full-time-equivalent positions in the budget are speech, behavioral and physical therapists, psychologists and an Island-wide physician, alongside string teachers and an accompanist.

A line item for diversity, equity and inclusion salaries was listed at zero dollars, but Ms. Houghton said that is because the school district intends to use grant funding to engage a consultant to guide its overall strategy for establishing and maintaining a healthy community climate in Island schools.

“Kids lost out on a lot in school with Covid, and we’re still finding out what that means — behaviorally, emotionally and in some families, financially,” she told the Gazette.

Ms. Houghton said the consultant, once identified and hired, will help schools navigate the Island’s increasingly complex community.

“It’s a district that is large and diverse, [with] a burgeoning English language learner population,” she said.