Proposed school budget up $2 million

WINSTED — Superintendent of Schools Blaise Salerno presented the Board of Education’s proposed budget for fiscal 2010-11 at a hearing with the Board of Selectmen at Town Hall on March 31.The total proposed budget is $22,986,560.48, which is estimated to be $1,921,983.90 more than the school budget for fiscal 2009-10.“It has been an interesting year to prepare a budget,” Salerno told the selectmen. “There were a number of changes we had to prepare for. Many people look at the school budget and relate to the three buildings we operate. The truth is this budget contains the educational programs and services for all of the school age children in this town.”Salerno explained that, despite the school district moving its seventh- and eighth-grade programs to the town’s semi-private Gilbert School, there are increases in expenses for certain line items.One of the line items facing an increase, which has been discussed extensively at Board of Education meetings, is the salaries for paraprofessional positions.For fiscal 2011-12 the school district seeks to hire a total of 57 paraprofessionals, up from the 2009-10 budget of 49 paraprofessionals.Because of which, the proposed 2011-12 line item for paraprofessionals is $900,003.41, up by $79,660.55.“Do we need to have all of them?” Selectman Ken Fracasso asked Salerno.“I have a hard time saying to you that we are out of [special education] compliance, but if it was not for the good will of our special education parents, we would be in court now,” Salerno told Fracasso.Other changes in staffing proposed in the budget include reducing the position of school superintendent from full-time to half-time, increasing the position of school business manager from half-time to full-time and reducing teaching positions from 80 in 2010-11 to 70 in 2011-12.In the budget, the salaries for instructional staff total $4,700,275.36.Due to the layoffs in teaching positions, the school district has budgeted $114,800 in unemployment costs.One line item eliminated from the 2011-12 budget is the salary for crossing guards, saving the district $55,000 from the previous fiscal year.“Crossing guards are not an educational expense,” Salerno said. “They are an expense for public safety, which is why I recommended that they no longer be funded in the budget.”During the meeting, Gilbert School Corporation Chairman Steven Sedlack made a brief presentation to the selectmen about the school’s proposed budget.Sedlack said that because of the transfer of the seventh- and eighth-grade classes to The Gilbert School, the total tuition the town is expected to pay in fiscal 2011-12 will be $7,174,817, up by $1,325,599 from fiscal 2010-11.“A lot of people will have a hard time swallowing the fact that [the school district] is looking for an increase,” Fracasso told Salerno.“People have to realize that this all represents the pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade budget for this town,” Salerno said. “Even though [Gilbert] is going to become a seventh-grade-through-12th-grade school, you are not going to lose a substantial number of children. You are just looking at a different allocation for the students. No one should expect that the bottom line for the town is going to decrease substantially.”“I disagree,” Fracasso said. “With the number of teachers that are being let go, I think there should be some savings in the teachers’ [salary line item]. I still believe there are savings we have not looked at.”Mayor Candy Perez appeared not to be satisfied with the proposed budget and quizzed Salerno on special education funding.“Let’s say that three [special education] students moved into the district and you need to find $300,000,” Perez told Salerno. “Because Gilbert is not running the special education programs, how will you find that money in your budget?”“We did not budget to the maximum on certain excess costs,” Salerno said. “About $120,000 in extra funds would be available to us.”“Well, say you needed to find $180,000, where would it come from?” Perez said. “A normal school system would find a way to pull funds from all of its grades, but now you only have pre-kindergarten through sixth grade. Where will it all come from?”“I can’t give you a hard answer,” Salerno said. “One of the things both school boards have committed to do is to try to operate as a shared system and yet still maintain some independence. It’s still a process. Previously, we have been miles apart. What I hope is that we’re much more willing to look at both [school operations] as a pre-kindergarten-through-12th-grade district.”Sedlack strongly agreed with Salerno and backed up his statement to Perez.“Last night, we had a joint finance committee information session where both sides shared information that has never been shared before,” Sedlack said. “This is a new era in how schools work together.”