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Health & Fitness

Notes From The Board Table - April 10, 2013

Notes From The Board Table - April 10, 2013 Board of Education reduces budget by $750K due to Board of Finance cuts.

The main task of the April 9 Board of Education (BOE) meeting was to cut $750,000 from our proposed 2013-14 education budget.  This is the amount we were instructed to cut by the Board of Finance (BOF).  I’d like to share with you the spending reductions that were approved by the BOE, and some thoughts about this year’s budget process.

The budget we originally presented to the Board of Finance called for a 3.83 percent increase over current spending levels.  The bulk of that increase was due to increases in special education services, and contractual obligations, two areas over which we have little-to-no control.  Without the special education and contractual increases, our budget recommendation would have included a 1.75 percent increase.

The Board of Finance, acting within its authority, voted to reduce our budget by $750,000 and what’s more, recommended that we offset $400,000 of those reductions by imposing participation fees on our athletic and extracurricular programs.  You may be aware that participation fees are a growing source of revenue for school districts, including among several of our DRG-A counterparts.  Wilton has been able to avoid imposing participation fees, although the topic does seem to come up each year.  By asking Wilton parents to kick in $400,000 in additional fees, the BOF sought to impose the largest participation fee assessment of any school in our DRG-A group.

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It’s important to keep in mind though, that while the BOF can require us to reduce our budget, it cannot dictate how we achieve those savings.  So even though the finance board unanimously decided that we ought to impose $400,000 in participation fees; the Board of Education was not required to accept that recommendation.

In fact, several of our Board members expressed their deep and philosophical opposition to the concept of participation fees.  Others felt that, given the enormity of the cost savings we had to achieve, we might have no other
alternative but to resort to some type of fee structure.

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With this in mind, we agreed to the following reductions:                                             


Technology Budget


 
 

$100,000


 
 

Elimination of several Smart Board projects


 
 

Textbook Purchases


 
 

   75,160


 
 

8th grade geometry, 7th


 
 

Curriculum and Professional Development


 
 

   80,000


 
 

 


 
 

Staff Replacement Savings


 
 

   66,279


 
 

Replace 5 retiring teachers with lower-salaried
  replacements


 
 

Heating Oil/Diesel Fuel Savings


 
 

   52,800


 
 

 


 
 

Athletics/ Clubs/Activities


 
 

    44,983


 
 

Elimination of under-served clubs/Program reductions


 
 

 


 
 

 


 
 

 


 
 

Building and Grounds


 
 

   49,576


 
 

Replacement classroom and library furniture (WHS)


 
 

WHS 0.5 Secretary (10 month)


 
 

   14,000


 
 

 


 
 

CM 0.5 Science Instructional Leader


 
 

    6,168


 
 

 


 
 

CM 0.5 Unified Arts Instructional Leader


 
 

    6,168


 
 

 


 
 

WHS 0.5 Library Media Specialist


 
 

   30,178


 
 

 


 
 

MD 0.5 Library Media Specialist


 
 

   30,178


 
 

 


 
 

WHS 0.5 Computer Lab Aide


 
 

   34,070


 
 

 


 
 

TOTAL


 
 

589,560


 
 

 


 

 

These reductions add up to $589,560, leaving roughly $160,000 to cut.  The Board voted by a 4-2 margin to raise these funds through participation fees.  The fees will be imposed as follows:

  • $100 fee per student/per sport
  • $50 per student/per club-co-curricular (9-12)
  • $25 per student/per club-co-curricular (3-8)

As you can see, the cuts we made are significant and they impact every school, and touch virtually every program.  One thing they do not do, however, is affect class size.  In fact, had we not decided to move ahead with participation fees it is very likely that we would have had to eliminate at least one classroom teacher.

I realize that not everyone will be pleased with the scope and severity of these changes.  I am also aware that there will be opposition to participation fees, and I hope that parents will share their concerns with us.  At the same time, I hope parents will consider the unfortunate situation we faced.  We were asked to cut $750,000 from a budget that had already been scrutinized and scrubbed.

I am grateful to Dr. Richards and the administration for the thorough and thoughtful work they did in identifying areas for reduction.  I am also appreciative to those parents who attended our meeting, and shared their
thoughts about how to reduce the budget.

If you would like more information, a copy of our revised budget is posted on our website:  http://www.wilton.k12.ct.us/pages/Wilton_School_District/District_Information

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