Date: Fri 05-Feb-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CURT

Quick Words:

school-board-education-Reed

Full Text:

School Board Expected To Approve Budget Proposal As Is

BY ANN MARIE COHEN

The Board of Education appears to be headed toward approval of the schools

operating budget proposed by Superintendent of Schools John Reed for

1999-2000. It is expected that the board will vote to send the entire $35.4

million spending package without further cuts to the Legislative Council at

its next scheduled meeting on February 9.

After much deliberation, board members concluded that Dr Reed's proposed

budget was appropriate, and they found no areas they could cut with good

conscience.

Board chairman Amy Dent noted that "This is the largest school population

Newtown has ever seen. Yet, the per pupil expenditure is at its lowest when

you take a look at dollars adjusted for inflation."

She went on to say, "Teachers' salaries and benefits comprise 71 percent of

the increase in the school budget and 21 percent of that figure is directly

attributable to new teachers' salaries and benefits due to increased

enrollment.

"The remaining 29 percent is reserved for purchased and contracted services.

New equipment that was purchased last year, now one year old, is in need of

service contracts. Special education requires additional mandatory dollars. As

much as I hate to say it, we need a ten percent plus increase!"

Other board members echoed Mrs Dent's concerns regarding increased school

population and class size. Susan Hills, vice chairman, said she felt a

compelling responsibility to bring down the budget, but given the increased

pupil enrollment, believed it was the board's responsibility to provide the

resources to maintain the district's high educational standards.

Board member Elaine McClure pointed out that the town of Bethel spends $400

dollars more per pupil than Newtown.

Anna Wiedemann, a Newtown resident, expressed concern over any teachers being

cut at the Middle School. "Let's keep class size to at most 25."

The budget proposal soon heads to the Legislative Council for consideration.

Earlier this week, the council's finance committee threw a bit of a wrench

into the school board's plans when it informed members that they must present

all capital requests in the proposed budget. The school board had originally

kept $850,000 worth of proposed capital items -- including the new Middle Gate

School roof -- separate from its operating budget.

Legislative Council chairman Pierre Rochman contacted Dr Reed this week to

remind him of this. The 10.54 percent increase, as reported, may actually be

somewhat higher once the capital items are included.

"We like to look at capital items separately, but we don't want to lump all

capital items for the town and the Board of Education together. The numbers

can get distorted and the percentages that are reported are meaningless," Mr

Rochman said.

The council's finance committee believes anything related to education needs

to be part of the education budget.

"That does not necessarily mean we intend to have it paid out of this annual

budget, but we'd like to see all the costs related to the schools in the

school budget," Mr Rochman said. "It's really just a question of

accountability."