Special Meeting Begins School Board’s Budget Inspection

By Eliza Hallabeck

The budgets for Newtown’s public schools went before the Board of Education on Monday, January 31. During the meeting, board members asked each department head to explain the difference between a “status quo budget,” which would have a 3.68 percent budget increase, and items that would add to the superintendent’s recommended budget, reflecting a 5.76 percent budget increase.

Board member Lillian Bittman said the board wanted to hear a sense of priorities between the two budgets.

For the elementary school principals, that meant speaking to Superintendent Janet Robinson’s proposed change to full-day kindergarten in the district for next year’s budget, an estimated cost of $305,000. For Newtown High School Principal Charles Dumais, that meant explaining increased staffing at the school for next year, an estimated cost of $346,000.

Monday’s special meeting marked the second of five meetings the school board is scheduled to have before it adopts its budget on February 8. The budget schedule also includes a discussion and public hearing for Thursday, February 3, at the Newtown Municipal Center.

As Superintendent Robinson explained on January 25, her presentation of the 2011-12 school budget includes both a plan to hold the school district at the status quo budget, and items to move the district forward.

The 2010-11 school budget was $67,194,734, and Dr Robinson’s recommended 2011-12 budget is $71,064,134, a 5.76 percent increase. To have schools remain at a status quo budget, which the superintendent defined as not adding new programs or features, the cost would be $69,670,343.

As outlined for the school board at the preliminary meeting on the school district’s budget, the recommended 5.76 percent budget hike for 2011-12 would include what Dr Robinson said are “urgent needs” to move the school district forward. Those needs, she said, are full-day kindergarten; an increase of high school staff to meet student needs at the high school; restoring the technology budget, estimated at $169,300; and restoring maintenance costs to the budget, for $573,500. The initiatives add a total of $1,393,800 to the status quo budget, Dr Robinson said.

Staff requests at the high school include an assistant principal, an English teacher, a math teacher, a history teacher, a shared secretary position, a part-time math teacher for the FLEX program, and a part-time English language instructor, which is an unfunded mandate according to Dr Robinson. The staff increases, she said, would help alleviate shortages of class offerings and prepare the school for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges recommendations.

Principal Dumais said one of the relationships between Newtown’s testing performance compared to other schools in Newtown’s District Reference Group (DRG), a state designated group of similar towns, is the ratio of students to teachers.

Between 2003 and 2009, according to a handout prepared by Mr Dumais, Newtown has been above the average number of students per teacher in its DRG. In three of those years, 2006, 2007, and 2008, Newtown had the highest number of students per teacher. In 2009 Newtown was closer to the median number of students per teacher, but it was still above the average.

When asked by school board member David Nanavaty why some classes showed the number of students to be within the school board’s guidelines, Mr Dumais said those numbers represented averages, and some classes have higher numbers of students.

Each year, Mr Dumais said, a list is compiled of students who could not take a class they wanted to take, due to those classes not having enough offerings or space.

“Schools used to be a place where you could get an education,” said Mr Dumais, while speaking to the request for a part-time position for the FLEX program. “Schools are becoming a place where we will ensure that you get an education. Interventions used to be something that was voluntarily… The philosophy has changed where, this is an intervention, and we are going to prescribe it and not necessarily suggest it. Putting those interventions in place requires staff.”

The district’s budget spending package, as recommended to the Board of Education by Dr Robinson, breaks down to spending 16 percent on Newtown High School, 16 percent on benefits, 15 percent on elementary schools, 13 percent on plant (maintenance and utilities), 9 percent on special education, 8 percent on Newtown Middle School, 7 percent on Reed Intermediate School, 7 percent on transportation, 4 percent on pupil personnel, 3 percent on general services, and 2 percent on curriculum and technology, according to the superintendent’s “Newtown Public Schools Superintendent’s Estimated Expenditures For the 2011-2012 School Year.”

After being asked by Mr Hart to explain what positions he finds of the highest priority, Mr Dumais named the assistant principal position and the social studies teacher position. He noted, however, that all of the positions were of priority.

“One of the questions we are examining here,” said Mr Hart, “is have we really scrubbed down to get down to the status quo?

Hearing From The Principals

After Newtown Middle School Principal Diane Sherlock said she is supportive of Dr Robinson’s status quo budget, she also told the school board one thing the middle school needs that is not in the budget is an additional school counselor. This addition, she said, would allow each student at the school to have the same guidance counselor for the two years while they attend NMS.

“This is the fifth year that I have asked you for an additional counselor,” said Ms Sherlock.

Mr Hart said while he appreciates the discussion of the school counselor position, the board will ask to hear from Dr Robinson at a later meeting as to why the position was cut from her proposed budget.

“I really understand why this is a really lousy year to ask you for an additional counselor,” said Ms Sherlock. “But I have to ask you for it, because it is important.”

Reed Intermediate School Principal Sharon Epple also said she respects the presented status quo budget, but, while discussing her school’s budget with the board, said “status quo is inadequate for Reed.”

She requested an additional physical education teacher for her school, a position that was lost in last year’s budget when the Project Adventure program was cut and the overseeing teacher left the district without being replaced. Dr Epple asked to have that position restored for both the physical education teacher and for Project Adventure.

With respect to Ms Sherlock, Ms Epple said, “I don’t want to have to ask for it five years from now.”

The added position, she said, would help the school solve scheduling issues.

Head O’ Meadow Principal Barbara Gasparine also requested a part-time physical education teacher for her school. As board member David Nanavaty pointed out, the addition of the position at Head O’ Meadow would help make the school equal to the other elementary schools in town, which have more than one physical education teacher.

All of the elementary school principals were asked to comment on the addition of full-day kindergarten for next school year.

The principals generally reported there would be enough room to house full-day kindergarten in the four elementary schools, with some shuffling. At Hawley Elementary School, Principal JoAnn Peters said two rooms on the main level would need to be looked at for use. Another option, she said, would be turning the school’s multipurpose room, used for some gatherings and once used as the school’s auditorium before the addition of the school’s new gymnasium, into two classes.

Mr Nanavaty asked for data surrounding other alternatives to full-day kindergarten, like extended day programs or trying full-day kindergarten at one school before starting the program at all of the elementary schools.

“I was trying to learn from what other districts did,” said Dr Robinson, regarding her decision to move completely to full-day kindergarten before trying alternatives. She also said the cost savings associated with the change would only be seen if switching to full-day kindergarten occurred at each of the schools.

The school board also heard the district’s Superintendent of Building and Grounds Gino Faiella comment on his budget during the meeting. Some things in his budget, he said, were added because they needed replacement, like a car. Other things he said were necessary for the school district.

To hear a full audio recording from this meeting and read associated documents, view NewtownBee.com.