By FULVIO CATIVO
March 5, 2008
— Superintendent David
P. Sklarz on Tuesday proposed spending $125.5 million
for the 2008-2009 school year, asking the board of
education to address district priorities while heeding residents' calls for
fiscal restraint.
The proposed budget represents a $7.7 million, or 6.53 percent, increase over
the current budget of $117.8 million.
Coming off a divisive budget debate last year, Sklarz
said education leaders must juggle residents' calls for a responsible budget
with a need to keep some of the town schools' signature programs.
In the coming school year, he said Tuesday, the district is faced with a
"perfect storm" of increases in teacher salaries, rising
transportation costs and skyrocketing utilities expenses.
"These things are all adding up," Sklarz
said during his presentation.
Most of the increases in next year's budget are driven by staff salaries, where
the district will spend about $4 out of every $5 in its budget on staff salaries
and benefits.
"We are truly a people organization and our budget reflects that, and
appropriately so," Sklarz said.
The current fiscal climate, Sklarz said, means the
district will not launch any new major initiatives next school year. The
district would spend more than $8.1 million just to carry over its level of
programming into next year.
To lower those costs, school officials have proposed eliminating more than
$900,000 by reducing staff and cutting school supply funds, the elementary
schools' safety greeter program and the middle school athletics program.
One new expense in next year's budget is $120,000 to help pay for the
state-mandated district improvement plan, which Sklarz
has said will address the achievement gap. Other new expenses would improve the
district's two magnet elementary schools, add elementary school staff to meet
rising enrollment, boost reading programs and continue
expanding the world language program from kindergarten through grade 5.
The budget proposal comes nearly nine months after town voters deemed the
municipal spending plan too high and rejected it in a referendum.
That budget resulted in millions in cuts to proposed schools spending. Sklarz called last year's budget process "a wake-up
call." He said he and other school officials have heeded the calls for a
more transparent, voter-friendly process. This week, the district will post the
budget and other fiscal documents on its website — www.whps.org
— for residents to examine, print or download.
Toward the end of his presentation, Sklarz noted that
the education cost-sharing grants the town receives from the state continue to
be an issue. West Hartford, he said, has received only about $15.4
million of the $34.9 million it should receive from the state this year. A
greater sum, he said, would have offered "great relief" to district
taxpayers.
Board members said it was too early to discuss specifics Tuesday night, but
some welcomed the budget, calling it "reasonable" and
"responsible." Board members also indicated that certain cuts the
superintendent proposed in his budget — such as middle school sports — will be
subject to stiff debate in coming weeks.
"The starting point that the superintendent has given us is a very
reasonable starting point," said board member Harry Captain.
Tuesday night's presentation marks the first step in the annual budget process.
Workshops to discuss the spending plan will be held March12 and March 13. The
board will hold a final workshop and a public hearing on the budget March 27.
The board will vote on the budget in April, then send it to the town council
for review.