Tolland Board of Education Making Decisions on Budget

On Tuesday evening, the Tolland Board of Education held a special meeting to discuss the budget and where the board needs to go from here.

Business Manager Jane Neel said that the board directed Superintendent of Schools William Guzman to add music back into the budget and to have a $200,000 surplus (1 percent of the Board of Education budget may be able to go into a reserve fund).

The directive was also given that none of the reductions in the budget will come personnel or programs, meaning no more cutting of teachers or programs in the schools.

Town Manager Steven Werbner recently reduced the Board of Education budget to a 1 percent increase, causing the board to have to make some difficult decisions. Neel said that the reduction equals $994,283 and that an adjustment of $126,963 can be made for locking in diesel fuel and gasoline, amongst other things. This leaves $867,320 that must come out of the budget to get to the 1 percent number.

According to Neel, two of the big topics discussed at the meeting were special education outplace tuition costs and the curriculum writing budget. She said these areas make up quite a bit of the budget, and were therefore discussed at some length.

She said that people really want to see how a 1 percent increase would impact the budget, especially when it cannot impact personnel or programs. For the next few days, everyone will go back and take another close look at their budgets and try to figure out where money can be cut from.

On Monday, there will be a special board meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Tolland High School Library Media Center. At this meeting, the reductions will be discussed and a plan will be formed in advance of the March 27 public hearing.