$17.9 million budget will go to voters

WINSTED — The Region 7 Board of Education has given its official stamp of approval to Superintendent of Schools Clint Montgomery’s $17.9 million recommended budget for the district’s 2010-11 school year, a 1.75-percent increase over current spending levels.

The budget, which was unanimously approved by the board March 23 at Botelle Elementary School in Norfolk, will now be presented at the district’s regional budget hearing at Northwestern Regional High School on April 19.

The board, which made no cuts or changes to Montgomery’s budget prior to its vote, was at the Norfolk school to conduct the first of four informal budget presentations in each of the towns the district serves.

The “hearing budget� proposes reductions in certified and non-certified staffing levels throughout the district, including classroom teachers.

Initially, Montgomery projected that up to 28 employees could be affected by the staffing cuts necessary to keep the increase at 1.75 percent.

But that final number was reduced to 14.6 FTE (full-time equivalent) employees — 6.1 certified and 8.5 classified staff members — with some being laid off outright and others having their regular hours reduced.

“Reducing the staff is something that we don’t want to do,� Region 7 Board of Education Chairman Molly Sexton-Read said during last week’s presentation.“But we sort of have our backs against the wall.�

She added that while the staff reductions would have some impact on classroom size and programming, the current proposed budget “protects the students as best we can.�

While the hearing budget does not include proposals to eliminate any district programs, it does call for the scope of some to be reduced.

In addition, the budget proposed the elimination of replacement schedules, heavy cuts to equipment/infrasturcture replacement and maintenance, as well as significant cuts to the purchase of general supplies and textbooks.

In addition, there are no new programs included in the budget that are not paid for by grants.

Currently, the district, which serves the towns of Barkhamsted, Colebrook, New Hartford and Norfolk, is operating on a $17.6 million budget for the 2009-10 school year, which represented a zero-percent increase from the previous budget.

The driving force behind this year’s budget difficulties for the district is an unexpected jump of more than 30 percent in health-care benefit package costs for staff.

“And this is not the last bad year,� Sexton-Read said, referring to the tough economic times. “It’s not pretty.�

The school board, which held its second informal budget presentation Wednesday at Barkhamsted Elementary School, has set its budget development calendar as follows:

• April 6 — Informal budget presentation at New Hartford Senior Center, 7 p.m.

• April 7 — Informal budget presentation at Colebrook Consolidated School, 7 p.m. (in conjunction with town budget meeting)

• April 19 — Regional budget hearing at Northwestern Regional High School Little Theater/Auditorium, 7 p.m. (board expected to adopt its final budget that goes to district budget meeting following hearing)

• May 3 — District budget meeting at Northwestern Regional High School Little Theater/Auditorium

• May 4 — Region 7 budget referendum, if designated by board or by petition

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