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Politics & Government

Superintendent Reveals School Board Budget Cuts

The adjustment reduces expenses for employee insurance, removes athletic funding and shifts teaching positions.

Reductions in costs for employee health insurance, athletic participation fees and personnel transfers are a few of the many adjustments that must be made to meet the school board’s approved budget, according to suggestions from the superintendent of schools.

At their meeting Wednesday night, school board members listened intently as Superintendent of Schools William Guzman presented his budget adjustment proposal, but no final decisions were made during the meeting. The board will host a special meeting at Tolland High School on June 28 to make the final adjustments.

After Guzman’s presentation, residents who attended the meeting raised questions and doubts about the superintendent’s recommendations.

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Resident Martha Shepard expressed frustration with the board’s cuts to programs and staff, saying that it irrevocably damages the educations of Tolland students.

“I really think that the cuts are irresponsible,” she said. “I am disturbed by it. Every time a referendum doesn’t pass, we allow an erosion of a layer of our students’ education.”

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The board has to cut $1,353,750 from its original budget proposal in order to meet the town council’s 2.5 percent increase to the school board’s budget, Guzman said.

“We’re trying to make the best out of a bad situation,” the superintendent said to residents. “What you’re looking at is a result of the damage,” he said, referring to the town’s . The board submitted its initial budget expecting a 6.5 percent increase, which was reduced to 2.5 percent over the course over the course of the referendum process.

Guzman said he shared Shepard’s concerns and that is disappointed with all of the opportunities Tolland students are missing out on.

“There are so many things that we don’t have in this budget,” he said. “We should have classes of 19 or 20 kids at the elementary school level. We should have a gifted and talented program. We should have two social workers as opposed to even one. We’re teaching two languages in this town. What happen to Chinese? What happened to Italian?”

According to Guzman, Tolland historically has placed 162nd or 163rd of 169 towns statewide in expenditure per student. While the state average is around $12,000 spent per student, Tolland generally spends about $10,000 per student.

The board and residents both agreed that the community needs to be more involved to prevent another controversial and devastating budget next year.

Guzman asked that more citizens attend the winter budget workshops to give the board their input. Chairman Robert Pagoni said that if citizens were more informed, they would understand how tight the board’s budget is.

“Anybody who thinks there’s fat in our program, I tell them to show me the fat. Atrophy is taking place in our schools,” Pagoni said.

When residents asked how the board could pay for unexpected costs without padding, such as the $200,000 spent on snow removal this year, Guzman explained that other critical items are cut to meet the district’s needs. In fact, this year, he issued a budget freeze in December to ensure that the board could meet the expenses.

“There is no option to overspend the budget,” he said.

Board members wrote down ideas on how to improve communication between citizens and the board. Some residents encouraged more civic discussions or creating a five-year plan for the town. Others supported a Government Day during which students could shadow town officials to learn more about the town's day-to-day workings.

Guzman liked the idea, but had some humorous hesitation concerning his personal involvement.

“I would love to have 450 middle school students follow me around. Thank for that suggestion,” Guzman said in a lighter moment.

Budget Breakdown:

Insurance: $867,658

Reduction in employee health insurance costs accounted for almost $1 million in savings in itself. Through a reduction in premium percentage increase and open enrollment changes, the board saved $646,527. Another $221,131 was saved when 57 employees transferred to the HSA insurance option. In an HSA plan, an individual owns the account. The funds are not taxed federally when deposited and roll over to the next year, if they’re not spent.

Resident Kuhrt Bidorini asked the board why such huge savings were not included in the original budget and found only after the referendums. Board member Karen Bresciano explained that while the board hopes that insurance costs will be reduced, they must prepare for the hypothetically largest cost or be stuck without the funds to cover insurance. She assured Bidorini that the superintendent worked tirelessly all year to get the cuts all.

“They were very aggressive,” she said.

Personnel: $16,654

A relatively small portion of the budget adjustment, $16,654, was covered through a series of position additions, deletions and transfers.

At Birch Grove Primary School, a full-time second grade teaching position will be replaced with two part-time paraprofessional positions in special education and math, as well as a full-time reading and math paraprofessional. The second grade position was removed because student enrollment will be decreasing in that grade. The second grade class size will stay at 22.2 students per class.

At Tolland Intermediate, a fourth grade teaching position will be converted to a full-time reading teacher to meet the increased need of specialized reading instruction. The position also fulfills a state mandate requiring the development of a Scientifically Researched Based Interventions system. Fourth grade class sizes will remain constant at about 22 students per class. General music will be reduced from two, 42-minute sessions a week to a single 42-minute section, making its schedule similar to other specials, such as art. Fourth and fifth grade band and chorus will not change. A computer paraprofessional will be added to install and supervise a computer-keyboarding program at the intermediate school, and a technology teacher will be transferred to the middle school.

At the middle school level, a technology education teacher will be converted to a math support teacher. In general, the board wanted to create more math and reading support for the students.

Personnel changes were also made outside of general fund budget. Guzman outlined the changes made in the $629,103 in funds the district received last fall from the federal Education Jobs Fund Program. Some of the positions were created at the beginning of the 2010-11 fiscal year using the two-year grant money. The board was able to transfer some of those support positions onto the local budget for 2011-12 to provide security for those jobs. Those positions include a math support teacher and a reading and math paraprofessional at Birch Grove, as well as a math support teacher at the middle school.

A Spanish teacher and a French teacher at the middle school, as well as a language arts/support teacher and school social worker at the high school were retained using grant money for 2010-11.

Three positions, however, were eliminated from the grant and all other funding. A third grade classroom teacher, part-time special education teacher and reading/math paraprofessional at Tolland Intermediate School were all removed. Guzman stresses that third grade class sizes will remain the same, and that the local budget-funded reading teacher, converted from a second-grade position, will fulfill the reading services of the deleted paraprofessional position.

With the remaining $332,814, the board funded a part-time French teacher and a part-time Spanish teacher and added one full-time Spanish teacher at the middle school level for the 2011-12 school year. At Tolland High School, a full-time language arts/support teacher, a math/support teacher and a social worker were retained.

Athletic/Activity Fees: $134,972

Guzman recommended that student athletes continue to pay a fee for sports participation. High school varsity and junior varsity athletes will pay $275 a person, and junior varsity will be additionally funded by private donations. The fees will amount to $44,051 and $56,672 respectively. The schools followed the same process this school year.

Middle school students will also pay $125 per student for sports. High school and middle school club members will be charged $50 for some extracurricular activities and students at Tolland Intermediate will pay $30 to participate in clubs. Combined, the fees will raise $34,249.

Paying It Forward: $110,498

Another chunk of the 2011-12 budget that needed to be cut ($110,498) was paid for using money from the current year’s budget. The funds cover next year’s anticipated costs in postage, copier paper and custodial supplies. 

For a complete breakdown of the budget, visit the Board of Education's Web site

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