Politics & Government

Tracing the School Board's Technology Funds

No portion of the school board's surplus has been returned to the town, despite contradicting reports.

So where is the school board's $50,000 towards technology investment going?

It turns out, not to the town, but to a board of education technology account, stemming from savings in the school district's insurance account. A $651,686 transitional payment between the two fiscal years is being made to Eastern Connecticut Health Insurance Program (ECHIP), which will result in a savings of equal amount in the 2012-2013 fiscal year insurance account. Those savings were reallocated during to fund a variety of different items, including the $50,000 increase in the school board's technology fund.

An earlier version of the school board's spending plan, which includes a $530,000 payment to ECHIP, is available on the school district's website.

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While $50,000 is a relatively small portion of the payment, its path was being closely followed after the a portion of its surplus to the town after June 30 as a way to rebuild trust between the two groups. 

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If the school board had excess money at the end of the fiscal year on June 30, it would automatically return to the town. July 2 is the first business day of the new fiscal year.

The council added that it would earmark whatever funds the BOE returned to be used for projects recommended by the Technology Task Force to benefit both the school district and town.

It appeared during that the board would not be returning the money to the town, but would instead keep the $50,000 in the insurance payment. But when asked after the meeting, Chairman Andy Powell said that the money would be returning to the town.

When called again to clarify, Powell explained that while he intended the motion to return the money to the town, it ended up being read that the money would remain in the school board's control.

"Our intention was to be able to provide money for non-recurring, underfunded areas and we did that. We just didn't do it by passing this year's money into next year," Powell said. The council also asked the school board to invest in non-recurring expenses .

"We absolutely want to work with the town council. There's no change in direction in working with them. I'm looking forward to doing more," Powell added.

For more information on how the surplus was allocated and finalized, check out .

Editor's Note: In the original story, it was said that the $50,000 was part of the insurance payment to ECHIP, when in fact, the $50,000 transfer is being made from a savings in the 2012-2013 insurance account, due to the ECHIP payment. The article has been corrected to reflect this.


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