School board making deep cuts to keep its 2010 budget down

NORTH CANAAN — Hard work on a 2009-10 budget proposal by the North Canaan Elementary School board has ended with a planned .99 increase from this year’s plan.

But last week there was bad news: a jump in the town’s Region One assessment of 8.18 percent, and the news that health insurance premiums could rise by as much as 26 percent (the budget proposal reflected an expected 15 percent).

All six towns in the regional school district pay a per-student fee for students who attend Housatonic Valley Regional High School. The number of students is counted in October of the year prior to the budget year (the 2009-10 budget will pay for the students who are attending the high school this year, 2008-09). The cost per student is calculated after the regional budget is approved by voters.

Significant impact from insurance

Health insurance costs have been an increasingly significant part of town and education budgets in recent years. Increases seemed to peak a few years ago, when costs went up as much as 18 percent in one year.

Just as the increases were slowing down, a year of heavy claims activity by school employees is having an impact on costs. Region One Superintendent Patricia Chamberlain said claims were made this year at the rate of 175 percent of premiums.

The increases in insurance and  regional costs will push the current proposal up from .99 to a 4.13 percent increase. The rise has prompted elementary school board members to take another hard look at their budget.

One increase that stood out to them: a $78,000 jump in teacher salaries, a 4.5 percent contractual increase. With student enrollment steadily declining, cutting a teacher is beginning to seem unavoidable.

Board members related comments from the public about class sizes, and debated if smaller teacher-student ratios really present an advantage.

An unusual approach may have presented itself when a teacher volunteered to take an unpaid leave for the coming school year. With salary and benefits, the savings would be well over $50,000. If that does not pan out, the most recently hired teacher might have to be laid off.

At a Feb. 12 meeting, board members and Principal Rosemary Keilty and Chamberlain discussed the unpredictability of enrollment.

But the current economy doesn’t allow for a wait-and-see approach.

Major cuts were already made throughout the budget to items such as textbooks, instructional equipment and programming. Next year , there will even be one less school bus.

The drop from six to five buses was prompted by the declining enrollment. Up over 400 just a few years ago, student population is currently at 337, and projected at 320 next school year. One less bus means a $24,833 savings.

One less bus: not a big problem

North Canaan is unique in that a bus route can be easily absorbed by others. Routes already overlap, to allow for enough seats for students and to stagger stops so traffic does not back up on roads like Route 44. The former is not a concern now. The latter is an inconvenience drivers will have to cope with. Keilty said the remaining bus routes would not increase significantly in terms of time students spend aboard.

Board member Beth McGuire suggested cutting the board’s contribution to the annual Nature’s Classroom trip. Students could fundraise for all or part of that, she said.

“It’s a nice trip,� she said, “but these are country kids. We don’t need to pay to send them somewhere to explore the country.�

She also said she finds the eighth-grade trip a little extravagant, with that class monopolizing fundraising opportunities.

Debate on class size continues

Eliminating one teacher will mean a restructuring of classrooms. Board members were divided on where more supervision is needed, primary grades or middle school. They discussed how they thought children in various grades are affected by large or small class sizes.

Keilty noted four of the school’s teachers’ aides are assigned to kindergarten, first and third grades. The others are in math support, the library, lunchroom and as a floater.

Several board members said they heard from residents on dropping enrollment and no faculty cuts in response.

“Enrollment is expected to continue to drop,� Warner said. “We’re just delaying the inevitable.�

Member Laurie Perotti said the question from taxpayers will be how the board can justify teacher raises.

“The answer, of course, is it’s contractual, but I’ve said that to people who say, ‘But I don’t have a job.’�

She added, however, that she disagrees with a teacher cut that will mean larger classes.

“With the stress and turmoil at home now, we need smaller class sizes.�

The board has scheduled a budget workshop for March 9 at 6:30 p.m. They will present their proposal to the Board of Finance for its comments on March 18 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall. A final budget proposal will go to a public hearing in April.