School Proposal Defended

As A Worthy Investment

One by one over the course of two sessions the Board of Finance devoted to better understanding the $67 million-plus school district budget proposal, teachers, parents, students, and education supporters repeatedly requested the board pass on the district’s spending requests to voters to make the ultimate decision.

Middle school teacher Don Ramsey likened any further budget cuts on the school side to shooting a cannonball through an already struggling hot air balloon, with its “precious cargo, our students” in the basket.

High school guidance counselor Jan English suggested the finance officials might not want to “presume for the public that they would not accept the budget as presented.”

Elementary teacher Sammy Suvanich told the board, “Obviously we will plead for you to invest in our students.”

Parent Michelle Pankin asked the board to consider the financial consequences of putting forth a zero-increase budget saying taxpayers want value, and that in her assessment, the district proposal stands as is providing “strong services at a good price.”

School board Chair Elaine McClure related that the 2009 district proposal represented the lowest increase request ever presented during her dozen years of elected service. And she likened the process of whittling down the proposal to a limbo dance.

“We need to compete,” Ms McClure said. “If the limbo bar gets too low, it breaks the backs of the kids.”

While discussions during the district’s first session March 5 centered around possible wage freezes versus the suggested furloughing (see related story), the second session March 11 devoted much time to receiving answers to nearly a dozen questions that were posed during the first meeting.

School Superintendent Janet Robinson defended the retention of staff, saying all classrooms are being utilized. Dr Robinson said she also strongly supports an unwritten rule capping class sizes even if it means driving the district’s payroll and benefits overhead higher by retaining more teachers.

She explained that because virtually all special ed students in the district are mainstreamed, class sizes need to be somewhat more modest to accommodate the needs of each class’s “diverse range of students.” And as student populations shift from grade to grade, and level to level, Dr Robinson said simply, “Tthe staff must follow the students.”

During a budget overview presentation, the superintendent reminded finance officials she initially received requests from her principals and staff that would have escalated the 2009 budget by almost eight percent. Following her cuts, she presented a 2.7 percent increase to the school board, which further trimmed the district’s proposal to the 1.74 percent finance officials were left to consider.

Finance Chair John Kortze weighed in, reminding supporters and district personnel that it was his board’s responsibility to account for priorities on both the school and town sides of the overall budget package, and that previously reliable revenue streams coming back to the town from various sources presented a disturbing unknown this year, which greatly concerned his board.

Mr Kortze, on several occasions during the two nights of school deliberations, reminded those in attendance that line item authority to control spending on the district side rested solely on the Board of Education — his board could only pose suggestions and deliver a net figure to council officials to consider.

The finance board recommendations will be sealed and delivered to the council by March 17, but Dr Robinson said that will be the day she would be informed about how much Newtown could expect to receive in supplemental federal economic stimulus funding. She will be attending a statewide meeting of all state school superintendents that day in Hartford to hear about government stimulus distribution.

Night two of deliberations started with a presentation by Mary Griffin of the school’s benefits firm TR Paul, who told the finance board that currently 86 percent of school district health plan participants have chosen a “buy-up option” to a health plan versus a base plan that is also offered for about $1,000 less per person annually. She said her company is currently shopping for other options that could provide the same level of coverage at a lower cost.

Mr Kortze zeroed in on a five-year pattern of final benefits costs coming in substantially less than the figures finance officials have approved, because the district tends to lock in rates as close to the end of the previous year’s contract period as possible. The finance board has been told that holding out until the last minute has worked in the district’s favor by establishing a longer history of claims experience, which has resulted in lower subsequent benefit contract rates.

The finance chair referenced a $153,000 transfer from the benefits line in 2008 after the rate increase dropped from five to two percent after his board already voted on their recommendations.

Over the course of the second night of finance board / school district deliberations, Dr Robinson also attempted to clarify spending patterns or specifically answer questions about custodial staffing ratios; building and grounds maintenance; technical services and educational assistants; projected utility costs; refuse removal; possible retirement-related savings; the introduction of a world language teacher; and even proposed expenditures for day-to-day supplies.

Most of the final hour March 11 was spent debating the potential accuracy of student enrollment predictions, and local population trending in relation to class size ratios in the district’s spending requests. Finance official Michael Portnoy reviewed several years of projections versus actual end of year student enrollment numbers illustrating that during the past three years, school officials had overestimated districtwide enrollment by an average of 77 pupils.

Mr Portnoy argued that by increasing some class sizes by a single student could result in the net reduction of ten teachers, six more than Dr Robinson proposed cutting in her final recommendation. But the superintendent countered that in a flagging economy, more parents who previously paid for private school or full-day kindergarten might switch their children to public school as an economic necessity, and Dr Robinson needed to be prepared for such an eventuality in September, long after the final budget will presumably be passed.

As the district’s meeting concluded, finance board member Martin Gersten asked the question that was also posed to First Selectman Joe Borst one night earlier: “If the budget is rejected, does the Board of Education have a plan to cut?”

Dr Robinson replied: “When 80 percent of the budget is people, it would have to be people.”