Finance Board Reviews

School Budget

By Larissa Lytwyn

Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff presented the Board of Education’s $57,338,770 education budget to the Board of Finance February 23.

The budget reflected a $716,790 cut to the superintendent’s proposed budget at its February 9 meeting, lowering the initial 9.29 percent increase in spending to 7.95 percent.

Dr Pitkoff first provided finance board members with a snapshot of the current school year, pointing out underbudgeted areas in rising employee health benefits, fuel costs, legal services, workers’ compensation, and the central office’s recent move to the Kendro facility on Peck’s Lane.

In addition, about $700,000 in bills has been incurred in remediation costs of the oil spill at Reed Intermediate School in December. An additional $500,000 in payments is anticipated, though the town is picking up costs in excess of the school board’s first payment of $216,000.

As a result of the oil mishap, the school board is currently freezing a variety of budget items, including building and curriculum projects, professional workshops, supplies, and engineering and architectural studies.

Finance board Chairman John Kortze expressed concern over the way the school board handled fuel costs in its budget projections. District Business Director Ron Bienkowski originally budgeted for $1.50 a gallon even though rates were then at $1.33 and expected to fall. The school board approved an even lower rate of $1.20 a gallon.

Dr Pitkoff discussed a consortium of more than 30 districts that lock in a fuel price together. Currently, they are paying a standardized $1.48 rate while Dr Pitkoff said that Newtown, following a pay-as-you-need methodology, is now paying the lowest available rate of $1.33 a gallon.

Nonetheless, finance board member Mike Portnoy said the school board should have a better system than the “wishful thinking” Dr Pitkoff described as how the school board came to the decision of lowering fuel rates to $1.20.

Dr Pitkoff detailed at length the board’s personnel requests on the elementary, middle, and high school level.

A major part of ensuring children’s educational success, he explained, is identifying at-risk students earlier to prevent later academic and disciplinary problems. Thus, Dr Pitkoff requested the addition of part-time early intervention teachers at Hawley, Head O’ Meadow, and Sandy Hook elementary schools and a 0.1 early intervention teacher at Middle Gate.

“The reason we need early intervention teachers,” explained Dr Pitkoff, “is that we have found that a significant number of students enter kindergarten each year without readiness skills.” Readiness skills means the ability to be academically and socially prepared to progress to the next academic level. A lack of readiness can be traced to a number of different sources, such as developmental delays.

The early intervention teachers would be used to extend the kindergarten program for identified at-risk students so that they had a full day, instead of a half-day, of kindergarten.

Dr Pitkoff then discussed the decision to replace three educational assistants, totaling a cost of $68,000, with one certified special education teacher, whose salary will be approximately $63,000.

The special education teacher would work about 27 hours a week. “In addition to the cost-savings factor, I feel that it would be better to have one fully certified teacher,” said Dr Pitkoff.

Dr Pitkoff also talked about adding a guidance counselor at Reed Intermediate School and a school psychologist at Newtown High School.

Currently, there are 912 students to 1 counselor at Reed, a ratio far exceeding the guideline of 1:300 established by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. An additional counselor would change the ratio to 1 counselor to 456 students. In explaining the need for the Reed counselor, Dr Pitkoff explained the sensitivity of child development during fifth and sixth grade. During a visit to the Board of Education last fall by teens currently in a substance abuse treatment agency, Dr Pitkoff said one teen admitted to beginning substance abuse at age 10. Other significant problems these children face, he said, include familial substance abuse, bullying, and divorce.

Board of Finance member Jim Gaston questioned, however, whether the “public” should be paying for students who could be treated privately for their problems.

Assistant Superintendent of Schools Alice Jackson explained that the counseling provided is strictly short-term, and that counselors do make long-term treatment recommendations to area counseling agencies when necessary. Often, she said, one of the first things outside treatment providers ask is whether the student has received some counseling from the school guidance counselor.

An additional guidance counselor at the high school, meanwhile, would lower the ratio from 1:1,600 to the more manageable 2:800. Though still above state guidelines, said Dr Pitkoff, it would nevertheless be a more manageable number.

Finance board members questioned the practicality of a $21,000 personnel-managed in-school suspension system when the out-of-school suspension system is at no cost to the town. Dr Pitkoff said the educational cost, however, would be considerable, describing the penalty of an at-home suspension for a student cutting class as “ironic” and ultimately ineffective.

Board members also questioned the increase from $25,000 to $92,000 in personnel training, which Ms Jackson explained was largely because of insurance-related salary increases and the relative newness of some staff members.

After the presentation and questions were finished, Mr Kortze and Mr Portnoy agreed that the education budget was a generally well conceived and organized one and thanked Dr Pitkoff for his time.