Schools

Board of Ed Members Find $3m in Savings to Deal with Budget Cut

Class Sizes Not Affected; Technology and Maintenance Hardest Hit

The $3 million cut to the Board of Education's proposed budget in 2010-11 won't affect class sizes and additional teachers and staff could still be hired to accommodate increased enrollment, according to a draft report from the school board's Finance, Budget and Community Relations Subcommittee.

The Board of Education is expected to discuss the report at its next meeting, set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Education Center, 501 Kings Highway East.

The subcommittee's report suggests that the Board of Education deal with the $3 million cut by:

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* Spending $394,347 less on technology in 2010-11 than the board initially planned (from $1.98 million to $$1.58 million);

* Spending $153,588 less on maintenance than the board initially planned (from $3.8 million to $3.7 million);

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* Spending $1.6 million less on medical insurance than the board initially planned, an adjustment based on figures through March of this year;

* Spending $328,500 less on special education than the board initially planned through the assumption of a state reimbursement on excess costs of 82 percent instead of 70 percent;

* Saving $255,600 due to seven more retirements in 2010-11 than the school board initially anticipated (new hires are paid less than longtime employees.) The school board anticipated 10 retirements, but the actual number is 17.

* Saving $44,979 by cutting a secretarial position;

* Saving $41,570 by cutting a professional development coordinator;

* Saving $36,736 by eliminating more music staff. Gary Rosato, the school district's director of curriculum, instruction and assessment, said in a memo to the school board that the changes in instructional time across the schools could be absorbed by current staff;

* Saving $11,266 by eliminating a late bus on Tuesdays at two middle schools, Fairfield Warde High School and Fairfield Ludlowe High School;

* Saving $74,856 by reducing capital expenditures at all levels by 50 percent;

* Saving $48,981 by increasing the group size for strings in grades 6 through 8 (the subcommittee says more discussion is needed on this idea);

* Saving $8,275 by eliminating CogAT testing in grades 5 and 7, but retaining it in grade 3. The CogAT test is used to help identify gifted and talented students in elementary schools and in placement decisions. School officials said other assessments have been put in place and that CogAT testing in grade 3 only should be sufficient, though further information on a particular student could be achieved on a case-by-case basis;

* Saving $1,302 through a pension reduction approved by the Board of Finance.

On the technology side, the $394,347 would eliminate 55 laptops scheduled for the 11 elementary schools, at a savings of $55,000; eliminate wireless capability at the middle schools, at a savings of $125,000; remove the Smart Board initiative, at a savings of $146,855; and defer the implementation of the Destiny circulation system (computer software) in the elementary schools, at a savings of $67,492.

The Board of Education had approved a $144.6 million budget in 2010-11, but First Selectman Ken Flatto cut that amount to $141.6 million, which was confirmed by the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance. The Representative Town Meeting can't add money to a budget, but the RTM didn't cut the school board's proposed budget any further.

At $141.6 million, the Board of Education's budget in 2010-11 represents a $2 million, or 1.4 percent increase, over the school board's current budget of $139.6 million.

The Board of Education's budget, adopted in January, had envisioned adding 19 teachers, 11 paraprofessionals and a custodian, and nearly all of those new hires appear to still be viable based on cuts suggested by the school board's Finance, Budget and Community Relations Subcommittee.


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