Sharon Boards still at odds over education funding

SHARON — Nearly two months after Sharon voters settled a contentious school budget debate, the town’s Board of Finance and Board of Education are working to improve communication. While the boards are approaching common ground, including on the state minimum budget requirement—a central sticking point in the budget discussions this past spring and summer—differences remain as to how tight to keep the bottom line.

Voters at a town hall meeting in May initially rejected the education budget before approving a revised plan in late June.

At the center of the debate was the minimum budget requirement, or MBR. The state law generally prevents municipalities from budgeting less for education than they did in the previous fiscal year.

Board of Finance members have said for several budget cycles that an accounting error years ago caused the school appropriation to be set unnecessarily high. They contend that the inflated baseline contributed to unspent balances at the end of subsequent school years and could make future reductions difficult under the MBR.

With that concern in mind, the Board of Finance has resisted increases in education spending in recent years.

At an Aug. 10 Board of Education meeting, Terry Vance, chairman of the board’s budget subcommittee, argued that the MBR should not dominate budget discussions. Vance said the town has sufficient financial resources, and noted that other towns in the Region One school district have raised their school budgets at times without placing the same emphasis on the requirement.

The Board of Finance, however, offered a different assessment at its Aug. 18 meeting.

Member Carol Flaton said rising costs have narrowed the amount of money left unspent in recent years, meaning the MBR may play a smaller role in future budget discussions. She and other members nevertheless rejected the argument that Sharon’s relative wealth means it can readily increase spending.

Flaton said Sharon’s wealth also limits the state assistance it receives. For fiscal year 2027, the town received just under $30,000 through the state’s Education Cost Sharing program, which distributes aid based on factors including enrollment, property wealth, and household income.

Sharon received the smallest allocation of any Connecticut municipality, with several other Region One towns receiving similarly limited amounts, according to data from the School and State Finance Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that advocates for public education in Connecticut.

Finance board member Michele Pastre said the town’s overall wealth also masks substantial differences among households. Budget decisions, she said, must account for residents with lower incomes who may struggle to absorb higher property taxes.

Pastre said that some argue that residents can afford to pay more. “No, we can’t,” she said. “There are a lot of people who can’t.”

In late August, BOE Chair Philip O’Reilly said that it is his board’s duty both to the school and taxpayers to strike a balance. “We’re not guided by a dollar percent,” he said, “we’re guided by the needs of the children, and we are also aware that we have fiscal responsibility.”

He said that even as the MBR may not play as much of a role in upcoming budget discussions, other challenges remain, such as a long-term capital needs analysis report that will be reviewed in September. A new study about the Region One school district is also likely to contribute to future talks as well, O’Reilly said.

The bottom line, he said, is that the two boards need to work with one another to avoid what happened in June. “We understand that the budget process has to start right away,” he said.