Volatile Costs Driving School Budget Overage, Board Says
WETHERSFIELD - A minimum budgeting requirement-driven adjustment could help the Board of Education erase a $255,000 budget overage reported at the November 22 regular meeting, but the district won’t know if any additional funding is coming until after the State Department of Education’s January 1 deadline.

       Until then, how to account for the special education and magnet school tuition-driven cost excess is up in the air, but where the numbers will land is far from set in stone, reported Board member Polly Moon, who chairs the Finance Committee.

       But with anticipated state budget deficit-driven cuts to Education Cost Sharing (ECS) aid, the situation is unsettling at the very least, Moon said.

       â€"Obviously it’s a concern because we’re halfway through the year,” she said. â€"Some of those numbers are moving numbers. We could have students leave the district or come back-same thing with the magnet schools.”

       The district does not yet know the full extent of magnet school tuition costs, but the Board had budgeted for 122 CREC-placed students in its 2016-2017 budget. So far, the district has verified that 106 are attending, with the potential for as many as 50 more-for an excess of $100,000-according to Business Manager Matt Kozaka.

       The district is also expecting a 5.2 percent increase in special education costs in 2017. Between the 2014-2015 fiscal year and lasts, Wethersfield saw a 0.7 percent jump in this area.

       â€"Special education costs are volatile and can significantly impact the overall district results for the fiscal year,” Kozaka wrote in an email. â€"Monthly reforecasts of one half to one percent of the total budget are not uncommon.”

       Meanwhile, estimated excess cost grant projections sit at 73 percent-down from the 77 percent anticipated when the 2016-2017 fiscal year budget was finalized. Next year, the Board is projected to spend over $12.9 million for special education-related tuition, transportation, and other areas.

       Moon also cited health benefit changes and a jump in the number of district retirees, as well as increased energy costs-driven mostly by the use of school buildings to compensate for the loss of sections of the high school during the renovation-as contributors to the overage.

       So the district will wait to hear back on the status of the minimum budgeting requirement matter. By statute, a municipality cannot fund its public schools at an amount lower than the amount allocated in the previous year.

       In September, the town learned from the State Department of Education that the district was underfunded by $240,659-due to a combination of the October 2015 free ad reduced lunch percentage and a last minute $478,812 ECS increase, according to Kozaka.

       â€"The school district does not anticipate the calculation, nor could it anticipate the noncompliance,” Kozaka wrote.

       Nevertheless, the town-by state mandate-must either provide documentation proving savings through increased â€"efficiencies”, or provide the Board with the reported amount, Kozaka said.

      

      

      

      

      

      
STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA   |  Dec 01 2016  |  COMMENTS?