East Lyme school leaders are taking to the airwaves this year to help with the annual task of explaining the education budget to townspeople.

Five public workshops, each dedicated to different aspects of the school budget, were taped for broadcast on the town’s public access tv station, and Supt. Paul Smotas expects they will be rerun often before the town begins budget deliberations in May.

In the first workshop, "Budgeting 101," Smotas concentrated on explaining salaries and the non-discretionary nature of the budget. Benefits and special education funding were to be subjects of subsequent workshops.

East Lyme’s current $38-million education budget went to referendum three times before finally winning approval at a town meeting.

School Board Chairman Kevin Seery said the December workshops were a way to get the public thinking about the budget early.

Supt. Smotas was not to submit his proposed budget to the board until January and the board was not to act on it until February, allowing for a longer review period than in previous years.