By FULVIO CATIVO
Courant Staff Writer
June 29, 2007
The school board Thursday night began to
figure out how it will cut another $500,000 from the 2007-08 education budget.
Officials Thursday did not vote on any cuts, but instead took about 90 minutes
to discuss how and where to trim next year's $118.3 million budget by another
half-million dollars. The revised appropriation comes after the town council
Wednesday cut $1.6 million from the overall municipal budget, which includes
money for the schools.
Earlier this week, the board agreed to cut $500,000 from its budget, and the
mayor assured residents that cuts could be made without affecting classroom
instruction. Board Chairman Jack Darcey said Thursday
that school officials and town council members agreed on the reduced
appropriation.
Since the superintendent introduced his proposed $122.1 million budget in
March, the board has cut about $4 million to arrive at its current total of
$118.3 million. The board will vote on cuts to the education budget at its next
meeting on July 10. After the cuts are made, the schools spending for next year
will total about $117.8 million or about a 3.8 percent increase in spending
over the 2006-07 budget.
To help meet the new bottom line, the district is considering cutting a total
of four full-time equivalent positions from the district's print shop, custodial
services, clerical and professional development
staffs.
Those cuts would amount to about $200,000 in savings. The board also reviewed
many other items in an effort to find an additional $300,000 in cuts.
Among the cuts board members considered were possible reductions in the
district's reading specialist, speech pathologist, social
worker and paraprofessional positions. The board is also considering tapping
reserve funds to meet its reduced budget.
Board member Tom Fiorentino said the district's
reputation stands to fall if the district cuts some of the positions that
assist the town's neediest students. The district's per-pupil spending average
is falling, Fiorentino said. Decades ago,
The belief that the district can make these cuts without affecting the
classroom is "demonstrably not true," Fiorentino
later added.
Board member Harry Captain, who participated in the meeting by phone from
Darcey and the board did rule out plans to cut
kindergarten programs and the elementary schools' Quest gifted and talented
program. The board also scrapped potential cuts that would have increased class
sizes, citing residents' fear and anxiety over the proposed cuts.
"I don't think we are going to touch any of those things," Darcey said.
About 20 people attended the meeting Thursday. Of the four residents who
addressed the board, three pleaded with officials to spare the Quest program
from further cuts or asked to restore some of the staff the program lost in the
last round of cuts.
"We've entered a point now where we are not staying far away from the
classroom," Edith Folta said.
Contact Fulvio Cativo at
fcativo@courant.com.
Copyright © 2007, The Hartford Courant