$123.3 Million School Budget Approved By West Hartford BOE

The West Hartford Board of Education approved a 2009-10 budget Tuesday night that does not increase spending and avoids the major program cuts. They were told by the Mayor that they would not be getting any more money than they did in last year's budget, so out came the red pencils to pare down spending.

It's amazing the savings that can be found under duress. It took a tough budget year and a very weak economy to force the West Hartford School Board and Superintendent to come up with a budget that is actually less than the prior year. They cut some positions and found some savings in various places. Administrators also agreed to some wage freezes in order to save jobs (welcome to the real world).

All in all this could be a fine result, however, it's amazing how our school administration always seems to find an extra million or two laying around somewhere, sort of like that"googly eyed stack of money" in the GEICO commercials. It makes one wonder what other funds they are keeping on reserve and how much better they can do in terms of managing their budget.

The Courant had this to say:

The $123.3 million plan is actually $3,817 less than the current budget, and it appears to make West Hartford the first among the area's suburban school boards to reach a zero increase this year.

"A painful process," Superintendent David P. Sklarz called the reduction of nearly 21 full-time positions and 20 part-time custodians.

The full-time cuts represent 12 paraprofessionals, three security staffers, two maintenance workers and about four central office positions, including a parent liaison who works directly with Latino families acclimating to the school system.
..snip..
There were no cuts in Quest, the gifted education program. K-5 Spanish language instruction will remain. Physical education in grades 4 and 5 will not be reduced from 90 minutes to an hour per week, and middle school interscholastic track and cross country were not eliminated to save $33,000, as originally proposed.

Needing to cut $3.5 million, the board instead eliminated the after-school program at Charter Oak and Smith, the two elementary schools with the largest number of minority students. The program, a step toward closing the achievement gap, cost $68,550.

Bigger savings included a combined $1.3 million in lower utility and insurance costs. Also, the union representing school administrators agreed to a wage freeze next year in an effort that saved about three supervisor positions, Sklarz said.

But two "lucky breaks," as Democrat Clare Kindall put it, factored hugely, too. The school system expects to have a $1.1 million surplus this year, in part because of penalties that First Student Inc., its contracted bus company, incurred for not having working video cameras in school buses. Half of the surplus will pre-fund energy costs in 2009-10, the other half in 2010-11.

Second, $1 million in federal stimulus money will be used to fund an increase in special education costs. The problem, board members said, is that come 2011-12, about $2 million worth of energy and special education expenses will reappear in the budget.

The plan now goes to the town council, which is expected to adopt a municipal budget at a meeting Thursday in town hall, starting at 8 p.m.

It is interesting to note that East Granby just voted down their town budget which increased taxes by 1.1% . Their beef was that their 14 top school administrators alone make about $1.5 million, including benefits. They want to see some of that spending dealt with. Cutting programs in favor of allowing continued administration salary increases, really is not sitting well with taxpayers and the families of the children attending schools. Now the town is looking for give backs by school personnel to bring down their tax increase. While it is clear that West Hartford is not East Granby, and it is nice to see that our administrators accepted a wage freeze, what is worth noting is the sentiment of taxpayers regarding tax increases and employee compensation. East Granby also said this:

"There were no salary or benefit concessions offered by these administrators, including non-union, during budget discussions. No concessions were made by any union, including the teacher's union, despite the threat of staff reductions. "

Sound a little familiar? Our West Hartford teachers union wouldn't give an inch - no matter what. Thanks to our administrators and their union who accepted a wage freeze to help preserve programs in our town like Quest and Phys Ed. They are to be commended for being helpful to our town and sensitive to the financial burdens that we all face. Perhaps they can teach something to the teachers union.

As for the $2 million worth of energy and special education expenses that they say will reappear in the budget next year ... looks like they better start thinking now about what will have to be cut to make up for that.

In the meantime wouldn't it be nice if they can just find another stack of that googly-eyed money somewhere.