Teaching Positions Take A Cut—

School Bd. Adopts A $39.9 Million Operating Budget

By Jeff White

After making “tough decisions” that led to the trimming of $1,075,554 from the district’s proposed operating budget, the Newtown Board of Education Tuesday night unanimously adopted a budget that represents a 14.4 percent increase over last year.

Although the approved $39.9 million spending plan represents a reduction from the original budget increase of 17.5 percent, school board members commented that the cuts were difficult ones to make.

“These are not fluff cuts,” said school board Vice Chairman Vincent Saviano of the adjustments that included cuts of 7.6 teaching positions, four support positions and one maintenance position. “These are significant.”

Each of the four Newtown elementary schools requested one position for a technology teacher. The school board decided to cut this request in the district’s budget, which reduced the overall bottom line by $196,356.

The high school also saw some of its requested teaching positions cut in an effort for the district to save money where it could. Two English teachers, one math teacher, one science teacher and one foreign language teacher were in the high school’s requested budget that made its way into the district’s proposed spending plan. In the end, the school board chose not to fund one English teacher and one foreign language teacher.

All told, approximately $160,000 was trimmed due to cuts and funding adjustments involving high school teaching and support positions.

Building and grounds maintenance also saw some significant cuts from the district’s proposed budget. School board members decided to put off the replacement of ceiling and light fixtures at both Sandy Hook and Middle Gate, which would have cost the district $53,149.

The $38,000 repair of middle school bleachers will have to wait another year, as will the installation of air conditioning in the media centers at Sandy Hook and Middle Gate, which would have cost $12,500 and $10,000, respectively.

The school board is also looking to save $50,000 by potentially relocating their offices to Canaan House and sharing space with the town; this would free up its current offices for classrooms to be used by the middle school.

But the large items in the district’s proposed budget, the items that make up most of the budget increase, remained intact. Overall, the school board felt that these were “untouchable.”

As school enrollment is anticipated to climb six percent, or by 284 students, by next school year, a considerable portion of the adopted budget will go to address space needs, including four proposed leased modular classrooms at Sandy Hook School that account for $86,702 in the budget. 

The Board of Education’s efforts to revamp an ailing health insurance fund makes up the largest percentage of the budget, four percent, with $1.6 million allocated to rebuild, among other things, a depleted reserve account.

Superintendent of Schools John Reed said this week that although he understood the board’s action, “I’m disappointed that the reduction of over a million dollars was necessary.”

Calling the items that the school board cut “reasonable and necessary,” Dr Reed outlined some potential repercussions, like larger class sizes at the high school due to the cutting of a Spanish and English position.

“It’s been a tough decision to look at what we’ve come up with so far,” board member Earl Gordon said during the meeting.

Board of Education Chairman Elaine McClure said Wednesday that the school board tried to keep the four main goals of the district in mind when making their cuts: the maintenance of reasonable resources; maintenance of class sizes; remaining competitive in the hiring of staff; and implementing a technology plan.

The school board decided to fund much of its technology request out of $22,000 available in their current technology lease, which will save the district $20,000.

“We were faced with a 17.5 percent budget increase. We had to make hard decisions,” Mrs McClure said Wednesday, calling this year “a convergence year.”

The school board’s adopted budget will now move on to the Legislative Council’s education subcommittee, which will look at the request later this month during workshop meetings before giving their recommendation to the council.

For Elaine McClure’s part, she does not see where further cuts to the spending plan could be made. “I just don’t know what’s going to happen with further cuts.”

Unhappy with the latest cuts, Dr Reed commented Wednesday that needed services and resources will now have to be put off. “There are things that needed to be done that are not going to get done. They are not going to involve health and safety issues, but they are going to involve quality issues.”

In other business, the school board voted to approve a $824,500 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for the district, which included funding for the installation of modular classrooms at Sandy Hook and updating the middle school’s fire code.

The school board voted to amend the district’s original request for a $1.5 million CIP, opting to postpone $800,000 in rear field improvements at the high school until next year.