Proposed School District Budget Shows Increase In Spending

By Eliza Hallabeck

With proposed staff reductions, a decrease in the number of days in the school year, and other eliminations from the school district’s anticipated budget for this next year, the budget presented to the Board of Education Tuesday, January 27, would have an increase of more than two percent from this year’s budget.

It was the first night of budget presentations for the school board, which began in the Lecture Hall of Newtown High School with Superintendent of Schools Janet Robinson presenting the proposed budget.

“Normally I say how great it is to go into this,” said school board Chair Elaine McClure before introducing Dr Robinson, “but having heard little bits of what the budget is going to be that the superintendent is reporting, I think this is a somber night. And we might as well get right to it.”

Dr Robinson began her presentation by describing the process a school district’s budget goes through before it reaches the final product.

“The superintendent’s budget is presented to the Board of Education,” Dr Robinson said. “[The school board members] go in great depth to analyze the budget proposals that are in here. They have the opportunity to make further cuts, accept it as it is, or to make additions.”

The school board then has the responsibility to move the school board’s budget through the town government until it reaches a referendum in April, according to Dr Robinson. She said anywhere along the line further cuts can be made.

“It is our role as the educators in this town to advocate for what we believe is in the best of the students,” said Dr Robinson. “We also need to be sensitive to the needs of the community in holding down expenditures. So we are constantly walking a tightrope.”

Dr Robinson said it is the district’s responsibility to conform to regulations set by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC), No Child Left Behind requirements, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).

“We have just under 5,700 learners in our community,” said Dr Robinson. “…We want all of those students to be successful.

“The driving question this year: How do we provide the highest quality education in this current economic climate?” said Dr Robinson. “I don’t think there is a person in this room that doesn’t hear on the news regularly the kinds of sacrifices that people are making around this country right now. Newtown must balance the reality of a recession economy and quality education.”

Dr Robinson said out of the budgets she has created over the years, this year’s proved to be the toughest.

In a prepared PowerPoint presentation slide, Dr Robinson pinpointed budget drivers for the school district as student needs, enrollment at specific grade levels, contractual obligations, and transportation.

“This school district has run a very frugal process in the past,” said Dr Robinson. “So at this point we have very little in the way of discretionary funds. Eighty percent of our funds are staff, are people. We teach children, and so we have people. Our largest union is our teacher’s union.”

No contracts are open for negotiations now with the seven unions in the district, according to Dr Robinson. Dr Robinson said with a no-growth budget the district’s contractual obligations alone bring the budget up 4.14 percent of what the budget was last year.

“Newtown has a history of hiring well,” said Dr Robinson. “We have hardworking, dedicated staff. We also invest in our staff.”

Dr Robinson said the district wants to keep as many people as it possibly can, because it has put effort as a district into its staff. Also, she said, firing workers contributes to the local unemployment rate, which works against the community.

Proposed positions for cutting are one teaching position at each elementary school, which is a total of four teachers, roughly one and a half gifted and talented teachers, which cuts the entire program, two teaching positions at Reed Intermediate School, the lead teacher funds at Head O’ Meadow and Hawley. Noncertified positions that are proposed for elimination are three special education assistants and two regular education assistant positions. In total, nine positions in the school district are proposed for elimination.

After going through the proposed positions to be cut Dr Robinson focused on Newtown High School.

“First of all, the high school is on warning status,” said Dr Robinson. “We have two issues we must be concerned with. One is space, how do we accommodate for the growing enrollment. And second is staffing. We need to provide staffing to lower the class size. We need to provide staffing to allow for more electives and courses that currently cannot take.”

Dr Robinson identified four certified staff positions needed at the high school as one world language teacher, one science teacher, one social studies teacher, and one guidance counselor. She identified three noncertified positions needed at the high school as one athletic trainer, one technology specialist, and a part-time position to allow for increased hours for the attendance office.

“In terms of the layoffs that I’ve mentioned,” said Dr Robinson, “it still does not bring the budget down significantly. I had to look for other ways that we might be able to bring this budget down within reason.”

To bring the requested budget down further, Dr Robinson proposed cutting the school year for students by three calendar days, which are scheduled as half days for students, and eliminating three professional development days for staff.

The school day at each school will be increased by five minutes, she said.

“In essence we will have four and a half more instructional hours next year,” said Dr Robinson.

With the proposed staff reductions, including the elimination of the Gifted and Talented program (GATES), and reducing the number of days in the school year, Dr Robinson said it is a low budget.

“And this was painful,” said Dr Robinson.

During public participation, people expressed concern to see the GATES program eliminated. Sarah Beier said that loosing the GATES program at the lower levels is a shame.

“There will always be identification of gifted children, that remains,” said Dr Robinson in response to Ms Beier.

Other questions raised by the public asked for the furlough days, the days proposed for elimination from the school calendar. Dr Robinson made it clear the three days for student attendance to be cut are currently half days of school, like the half day before Thanksgiving break. Dr Robinson said she could not speak regarding other specific dates, because they have not yet been decided.

Board member David Nanavaty said he wanted everyone in the attendance to understand that as the proposed budget moves through the town government any further budget cuts would mean a loss in personnel.

“We’re going to loose teachers,” said Mr Nanavaty. “We’re going to loose educational assistants. We’re going to loose administrators. Everything is on the table. So when the Board of Finance and the Legislative Council say it’s up to the Board of Ed to determine where the cuts are coming from, I think our superintendent has spoken loud and clear.”

School board Chair Elaine McClure said the budget proposals by Dr Robinson are desperate measures and are “hopefully for one year.”

Over the next two weeks the school board is scheduled to meet four times to discuss the budget; Thursday, January 29; Tuesday, February 3; Thursday, February 5; and Tuesday, February 10.