Ed Budget Picked Apart by Board of Finance

Board of Finance Chairman Tom Flynn couldn't account for $850,000 in savings that should have resulted from insurance adjustments made by the Board of Education in its proposed $148.5 million budget for 2011-12.

First Selectman Ken Flatto thought enrollment projections from MGT of America in Olympia, Wash. were "very flawed" and that the school board's proposed budget could use some trims in technology and fewer new hires.

Board of Finance member Kevin Kiley questioned how 464 personal computers could cost $336,000 - an average of $725 a computer - especially since the computers would be bought in bulk.

And Selectman James Walsh questioned why the town was spending another $25,000 to fix temperature problems in Burr Elementary, which have plagued the largely-glass school since it opened in September 2003.

Other than that, Supt. of Schools David G. Title and Board of Education Chairman John Mitola faced little challenge during the finance board's 4 1/2-hour review Tuesday night of the proposed $148.5 million Board of Education budget for 2011-12, which rises 4.9 percent, or $6.9 million, from the current budget of $141.6 million.

Title said 88 percent of the 4.9 percent increase was due to fixed or contractual costs, which include increases in salaries and medical benefits for Board of Education employees; rising costs in pensions; fully funding the special education budget, which Title said was underfunded in the past; an increase in the school district's transportation contract for school buses; and six new hires for a projected increase in enrollment of 102 students.

"We're budgeting six fewer elementary classroom teachers. We do have increases at middle school and high school," Title said.

Title said a new elementary school staffing model, designed to increase math and literacy skills, was one of the few new programs offered in the next fiscal year and that the school board would save $100,000 by reconfiguring its pre-kindergarten programs.

Title said the proposed budget didn't include money for SmartBoards because the Board of Education hadn't figured out a plan to remedy inequities among schools. He said the school board had "squeezed savings in non-instructional areas," such as $500,000 by moving start times at both high schools to 7:30 a.m. next September, which required fewer buses than having one high school start at 7:40 a.m. and the other start at 7:50 a.m.

In response to Kiley's question, Nancy Byrnes, the school district's Information Technology director, said $336,000 was the low bid for 464 PCs and that the cost reflected "the difference between retail and government."

Title said he would get back to the Board of Finance on Flynn's question of why $850,000 in savings to the school board's medical insurance costs - $550,000 from using an insurance stop loss of $300,000 instead of $100,000, and an additional use of $300,000 from the medical reserve account - didn't appear to be reflected in the operating budget.

Flatto's disagreement with MGT of America's enrollment projections didn't really go anywhere because Flynn said he wasn't a demographer and Board of Finance Vice Chairman Robert B. Bellitto, Jr. questioned why the board shouldn't use figures provided by experts it had hired.

Flatto's belief that the school board was requesting 23 new positions vs. the six new hires stated by Title wasn't resolved. One page of the Board of Education's proposed budget identifies the increase in total staff at 6.2 - from 1,456.90 this year to 1,463.10 next fiscal year. But another page, which Flatto referred to, says the "certified total additions" totaled 23.10.

Among the 23.10 in certified total additions were 0.10 full-time equivalent for elementary health, 0.05 for elementary music, 0.05 for elementary physical education, 0.20 for high school physical education, 0.20 for middle school math, 0.10 for middle school music and 0.20 for middle school science. The largest full-time equivalents fell under the categories of elementary reading (7.5), and elementary math (4.2.)

The $25,000 slated to fix Burr Elementary's temperature problems through new HVAC units in five classrooms and the reception area provided the most levity of the evening, with Thomas Cullen, the school district's director of operations, suggesting nobody figured on the placement of the glass building and "dramatic effect" of the sun when it rises and sets.

"It's real difficult to predict the sun was going to come up. I understand how that was a game changer," Flynn said to laughter.

Board of Finance member Christopher DeWitt asked Title how he would handle Flatto's suggested $1.6 million cut. Title indicated that would be up to the elected Board of Education but said he'd get back to DeWitt with an answer.

Several members of the audience, who finally got the chance to speak about 11:15 p.m., asked the Board of Finance not to cut the school board's proposed budget, saying they liked Title's plan to increase literacy and math among elementary school students.

"The superintendent's budget is lean and it's real. Please support it," said Meredith McCormack, the budget representative for Roger Sherman School's PTA.