Technology Spending Cut To Meet School Budget Limits

By Jeff White

Looking to three main areas, Superintendent of Schools John R. Reed went before the Board of Education Wednesday night and recommended $500,000 in further cuts to its 2000-2001 spending plan.

Funding for technology, capital projects, and teaching resources was trimmed in order to meet the bottom line that the Legislative Council set when it trimmed district spending in early May after the town’s budget was defeated in referendum.

“I’m not happy with the postponement of these projects,” Dr Reed told the board Wednesday night, but added that in a budget teeming with immediate necessities, these areas lent themselves best to reductions.

He said he wanted to keep cuts “simple,” opting to look at larger items rather than consider small line items to reach the $500,000 bottom line.

Capital projects at Middle Gate, Sandy Hook elementary schools were postponed, allowing $188,500 to be saved. Included in these postponed improvements were the paving and expansion of Middle Gate’s parking lot ($65,000), ceiling replacements at both schools ($68,000), and the expansion and drainage of Sandy Hook School’s parking lot ($55,000).

Dr Reed said that the district would be able to cut $38,000 in funding for textbooks, largely due to the $225,000 budget freeze the school board implemented earlier this year that kept the district from making planned purchases in this area. Due to the delay, Dr Reed said, the district was able to reassess enrollment and conclude that it could get by with such reductions in textbooks.

Added to these textbook reductions was $67,668 in cuts for teaching staff originally meant for a kindergarten position, an educational assistant, and a technology secretarial position. Also, Dr Reed recommended postponing the hiring of a Tech II position until January 2001, which would save the district close to $25,000.

By far the hardest hit area was money in the district’s spending plan earmarked for technology purchases. Dr Reed suggested $205,832 in funding be cut from the $320,000 originally reserved for the district technology needs next year. Or, as Dr Reed explained to the board, virtually two out of every three dollars that the district planned to spend on technology resources cannot be spent.

For a school district that has been recognized by the state for its efforts in weaving technology into its curriculum, Dr Reed Thursday morning recognized that this was a significant, even dangerous, reduction. “[This is] a serious setback to our efforts in this area,” he said.

“It certainly gives us something to think about,” said school board Chairman Elaine McClure, referring to the additional budget reductions as “not an easy thing to do.”

Although not strictly in response to the reality of further budget reductions, Mrs McClure asked the board to allow her to draft a letter to Newtown’s three state representatives expressing the district’s desire to have some of the state’s $163 million surplus returned to it.

Currently, the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, a lobbying group, is calling for the state to return that surplus to Connecticut towns, and the issue will be taken up during a session of the state legislature June 15 and 16. Although Newtown could see approximately $250,000 of that surplus, it would be returned to the town as a whole, not the school district. Mrs McClure wanted to implore Newtown’s state representatives to call for some of that money to be channeled into the school district.

School board Vice Chairman Vincent Saviano said the issue of returned funds will center around which town body claims a greater need. The town wants the funds to help ease tax burdens, while the school district needs the funds to counter close to $2 million in budget cuts since January.

They are completely different issues, Mr Saviano said Wednesday night. “Our argument is that we have a $2 million cut that we are trying to make up, whereas the town will argue that the money will help to reduce the mill rate.”

With the school agreeing to draft such a letter to Newtown’s state representatives, it will now weigh Dr Reed’s recommendations and prepare for a vote next Tuesday night.

“This is all under the guise of ‘something has to go, so what are you going to do,’” he said of the additional funding cuts.

Dr Reed’s recommendations followed a presentation by the high school’s Tech Club, which gave the board an update on their activities. Members said that the club was busy and successful, but two more VCRs would really help the club to run more efficiently.