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Board Absorbs Blow To Budget
Additional $1.8 Million In Cuts A Shock To Parents, School Officials
By FULVIO CATIVO
Courant Staff Writer
April 26 2007
WEST HARTFORD --
Parents and board of education members said they were shell shocked Wednesday
evening, still reeling from the town council's cutting an additional $1.8
million from the school budget.
Several parents said the decision to cut the funds was disheartening, while
school officials said the changes were not expected.
The cuts were "tantamount to a disinvestment," in the town's
schools, particularly the district's three magnet schools, said Otis Maynard,
father of two Smith
School students.
Board members also sounded off on the cuts; many of them said they did not
hear about the cuts until moments before the town council voted on them.
"The last 24 hours has been a rollercoaster for the board of
education," said board member Harry Captain.
On Tuesday, the council adopted a $203.3 million budget, which carries a 3.48
percent spending increase. The budget includes $118.3 million for the
schools. The council also cut $380,000 in non-recurring capital expenses for
the school system from the capital budget.
While the council sets the budget bottom line, the school board has to decide
what to cut.
The school budget process began in March with the superintendent's $122.1
million spending proposal, a 7.59 percent increase over the current $113.5
million budget. Board members and many residents almost instantly deemed the
budget too high. The board eventually adopted a $120.1 million budget, with a
5.86 percent increase. That figure was sent to the council, which decided
Tuesday to cut an additional $1.84 million from next year's school budget.
The adopted spending plan now represents a 3.9 percent budget increase for
schools over the current budget.
The smaller increase in spending will make budget decisions "more
stressful, more painful," Superintendent David P. Sklarz
said.Sklarz said the administration will work to
find places where cuts can be made. But he warned that the cuts could have an
impact on staffing and class sizes, putting to the test school officials'
annual adage of keeping cuts far from the classroom.
Parents urged the board to maintain the school system's priorities and to
make sure the cuts don't affect students.
School board Chairman Jack Darcey and the
superintendent said the board will deliberately weigh where cuts will be
made. While school officials have until the end of the fiscal year in June to
consider cuts, Sklarz said settling financial
decisions during May will allow the district to move quickly on staffing and
other spending decisions for next school year.
The school board will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in town hall's Legislative
Chamber.
The town's first property revaluation since 1999 made this a tough budget
season, Mayor Scott Slifka said by phone Wednesday.
West Hartford, he said, is weathering a
financial "rough patch" and the cuts to the school and municipal
budgets were not made lightly.
"We made a decision based on what we felt was the community's ability to
pay," he said. "That was the bottom line. It was an affordability
issue."
Contact Fulvio Cativo at
fcativo@courant.com.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant
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