School Board Passes 4.64 Percent Budget Increase
The budget's approval was a 4-3 split decision.
A divided school board passed a budget totaling $36,270,845 after a 4-3 vote at Friday night's special meeting.
The school budget includes a 4.64 percent increase, which amounts to $1,608,488.
"We have historically speaking been fiscally responsible," Chairperson Andy Powell said of the budget. "We have not come to the town for additional monies. There's only one town that's more efficient than us," he said referring to state-wide school efficiency rankings.
A number of items were eliminated from the budget to reach the new number. They include (in reference to the district's at-risk list):
- 1. IT Storage Area Network SAN-Backup - $22,000
- 2. IT Web Filter - $4,040
- 4. TIS 1.0 Grade 3 Teacher - $60,868
- 5. BGP 1.0 Grade 1 Teacher - $60,868
- Numbers 7 -20: A collection of maintenance projects, ranging in costs from hundreds of dollars to several thousand dollars
- 28. IT Storage Area Network - $22,000
- An increase in pay-to-play sports fees: $225 at Tolland Middle School, $325 for JV and varsity sports at the high school
The at-risk list is available near the top of the article and has detailed explanations on each item.
The board whittled down the superintendent's latest adjusted budget, which was a recommended 5.67 percent increase. (The recently released adjustments were due to fluctuations in insurance, transportation costs and insurance HSA enrollments, amongst other changes.)
The board also weighed the possibility of cutting the world language program at Tolland Middle School. However, the removal of the program would be very damaging to the students and school's schedule, according to Principal Walter Willett, so the board kept the program and decided to focus on cuts that would maintain the "status quo" as much as possible for Tolland education.
Since the first grade and third grade teaching positions, coupled with declining enrollment, would cause little change in those class sizes, the board ultimately decided to remove the positions, which could have potentially reduced class sizes from the current average of 22 students, according to the at-risk list.
Tolland Intermediate School Principal James Dineen said that even maintaining class sizes may not be sufficient.
"Our status quo right now is not good enough," he said. "The teachers can't effectively meet the needs of all the students in the classroom."
Gayle Block, Steve Clark, Powell and Tom Frattaroli voted for the 4.64 percent increase. Althea Gill, Karen Kramer and Christine Vincent voted against. Frank Tantillo and Robert Pagoni were absent.
The school board will now submit the budget to Town Manager Steven Werbner.
In This article
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Tolland Middle School
1 Falcon Way, Tolland, CT -
Tolland Intermediate School
96 Old Post Rd, Tolland, CT -
Patti Hollay Luetjen
8:25 am on Saturday, February 18, 2012
How incredibly frustrating and dissapointing that our leaders are putting our youngest children at risk by putting them in classes that exceed state averages! At a class size of 20 you WILL see impacts to learning. We are already seeing the impacts. We are not even willing as a community to support the very basics any more. I'm not even touching on world language and sports I am talking about reading and writing!
Patti Hollay Luetjen
8:26 am on Saturday, February 18, 2012
Name should read..Patti Hollay Luetjen
Bob S
8:48 am on Saturday, February 18, 2012
What is disappointing is that they passed the budget increase. Our state taxes just went up, now BOE budget goes up 4.6%. Who can afford to keep living in a state and town that spends money almost as fast as our federal government? Where is the Tolland mint located?
Amazing, a whole 20 kids in one class and learning will suffer......yea right. I went through the South Windsor school system in the 1980's and regularly had class sizes over 20 and my education didn't suffer. Parents must realize that learning come back to parent and the child's will and desire to learn. Remember you can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make it drink.
If you think the school system is so bad, send your kids to Kingswood Oxford or Loomis Chaffee and leave our taxes at a still moderate level. Tolland does not need have to taxes reach West Hartord, New Haven, Manchester levels.
If taxes keep going up (and they will because of this pathetic budget increase) , people will be leaving the town because you can no longer afford to live here. Then where is all this so-called needed revenue going to come from to pay this out-of-control BOE's budgets?
Diane Clokey
9:32 am on Saturday, February 18, 2012
This is more complicated than 20 vs 23 or 24 in a first grade classroom. When we went to school, classes could be sorted by ability levels so that one teacher could deliver the material to a class that was in or around the same level of reading or math. Nowadays, you are talking about delivering instruction to WIDE range of abilities in the same classroom. Not to mention the large amount of "benchmarking" and assessment that is now required. This was once addressed by having lower-cost paraprofessionals to assist teacher with remediation and extension of learning, but those "regular education paraprofessionals" are mostly long gone in the budget.
You can argue all day long about the benefits of inclusion. I happen to think that it has great value. However, it has been required by decades of state and federal legislation without properly funding it. Thus, like with many issues, we are left with a conversation that blames local leaders for rising costs whose origins are not local.
I wish that we could have a better conversation than that here in Tolland. Our residents, including the ones that can't vote, deserve that.
Patti Hollay Luetjen
9:33 am on Saturday, February 18, 2012
People are leaving this town to find better schools. Loomis and Kingswood Oxford do not offer elementary education beow the fifth grade and are just not affordable to most families. The schools have our children for minimum of 6 hours a day in class sizes of 22, 23, 24. If you think a parent, even a highly involved parent can mitigate that the truth is they can't. And if you think parents of school aged children should pack up and move out I have no response to that. And FYI a lot of families, including my own earn well below the town average income and we are willing to get behind our schools.
john fed up taxpayer
11:32 pm on Saturday, February 18, 2012
These yearly ever increasing school budgets are ridiculous and unafordable....and they make me sick. This country and this town have way to many spendthrift`s...no wonder the country has so many financial problems.
Josh Freeman
11:09 am on Sunday, February 19, 2012
Town Manager Werbner provided a handout at the recent community conversation on the budget that shows expenditure increases per year since 2009/2010:
(Numbers are for '09/'10 ; '10/'11 ; '11/'12 ; ??? for '12/'13)
Town: -2.4% ; -0.05% ; 1.36% ; this year ???
BOE: 0% ; 1% ; 2.53% ; this year ???
The 3 year average for BOE is 1.18%/year. The town's average is -.36%.
Is 1.18% and -.36% per year really ridiculous and unaffordable?
D
11:21 am on Monday, February 20, 2012
Perhaps John was referring to the increases the Supt and BOE request every year - 6.46, 6.53 and 5.98! It does seem that the BOE members have put in much time and energy this year to reduce the requested increase, but a 4.64% increase is still considerably higher than neighboring towns have requested. With all the above reductions, what is driving the increase? I hope the Town Manager and Town Council respect the hard work of the BOE and affirm the 4.64, but the BOE is going to have to clearly explain to the voters why this much of an increase is absolutely necessary and should be approved in the 1st vote.
Barbara Olson
9:07 am on Monday, February 20, 2012
We can argue the numbers until we are blue in the face. The reailty is that the Tolland School System is at risk which not only impacts the children in school now but all the families in town regardless of whether they have school-aged children. The students are no longer being provided a well-rounded educational experience and many would even argue that they are not getting some of their basic educational needs met. And those of us that want our kids to have opportunities to participate in activities outside the classroom are being asked to carry a bigger burden every year. $325 to participate in a high school sport is ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS.
Crys
8:43 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
My kids take private music lessons. I don't expect the town to reimburse me for that. I pay way more than $325 per student. There are studies that go back 100 years that prove that music has intrinsic benefits that can't even be measured. Sorry, my heart doesn't go out to the folks that are outraged by $325 to play sports.
Crys
8:45 am on Friday, March 16, 2012
My kids take private music lessons. As much as I'd like to, I don't expect the town to reimburse me for that. I pay far more than $325 per student. There are studies (both recent and ones that go back at least 100 years) that prove that music has intrinsic benefits that can't even be measured. Sorry, my heart doesn't go out to the folks that are outraged by $325 to play sports.