Board of Ed. to Act on Budget Reductions Tonight
NEWINGTON - A 1.2 percent school budget increase-partly composed of $515,000 of the Board of Education’s own surplus money-will allow the district to avoid most of the foretold layoffs, but only for the next year.

       Superintendent Bill Collins is proposing to put forth a matching amount of budgeted health insurance money to cover salary expenditures-on the rise due to contractual mandates. The surplus itself would be swapped and used for health benefits.

       The approach would allow the Board to fund its payroll with money from its operating budget, as opposed to relying on a surplus-a potentially nonrecurring source of funds-to cover costs that will be there every year, Collins says.

       The Town Council established a contingency fund for the retention of Board surplus money as a part of an agreement for a school budget above an initially proposed 0 percent. The Council chipped in 0.5 percent-or, $345,000-with the Board’s surplus bringing it to 1.2 percent.

       Board members expressed concern over the prospect of utilizing surplus money for salaries, urging the Council to consider accepting the $515,000, and then transferring it back to them as a part of their base operating budget.

       Doing so would have ensured the budgeting of at least that much the next year, since a Town Council-by statute-cannot fund lower than the previous expenditure unless the district is shrinking significantly in student population.

       Mayor Roy Zartarian contended that committing the town to the $515,000 would have left them having to cover the difference if the Board was not able to fund the full amount themselves.

       The agreement allows the district to save 14 teaching positions, but it cannot guarantee the retention of those jobs next year.

       â€"I don’t think it’s responsible to fund salaries that way, but I don’t want to lay off 14 teachers,” said Board member Josh Shulman. â€"It’s like funding my mortgage with my bonus.”

       Collins said that the Board would be starting with 2 percent to make up next year-and that’s before its regular increases are factored in. This is due to the combination of a CIP â€"hole”-created by last year’s movement of operating expenses to the Capital Improvement Program-and the need to fund the 14 one-year positions, he said.

       Meanwhile, the Board is looking at the loss of two administrators, the deferment of both its seventh grade World Language program and the hiring of a high school-level biomedical sciences teacher, and the elimination of the district’s elementary and middle level gifted program, among other items.

       Nothing has been finalized, but the Board is almost certain that it will have to wait to continue the STEM program that began with the opening of a biomedical sciences academy at Martin Kellogg Middle School and the aerospace facility at John Wallace Middle School.

       â€"We have looked everywhere,” Collins said. â€"We have pulled from everywhere we feel comfortable. There’s nothing left.”

       One central office administrative position will be reduced from 12 months to 10 months per year. Another will be lost entirely. The third-another layoff-will be replaced using lower level staff to cover the work.

       â€"The works has not changed,” Collins said. â€"The work is still there.”

       The shift would save the Board $100,000.

       The proposed plan also includes the loss of the district’s webmaster, an hourly position costing $20,000.

       The Board reconvenes tonight to take action on the possible reductions.

      
MORE NEWINGTON NEWS  |  STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA  |  Apr 27 2016  |  COMMENTS?