Presentation: Board of Education Budget Mr. Leoni explained the goals of the 2010-2011 Torrington Public Schools budget, especially that of protecting positions that maintain class size. He said there is a population of 4800+ students, 17.6% of which are Special Education, 7.3% are English language learners and 36.4% receive free and reduced lunch. He further explained the process used during the creation of the budget, and some of the projected costs. He outlined factors such as projected enrollment, plans for reorganization of instruction resources, and staffing and program changes. Some of the goals
he listed included making curriculum visible and online, a continuum that spans from kindergarten through grade 12, creation of Literacy and Math coordinators, a comprehensive professional development plan with less consultants, reduction of teaching staff based on enrollment, increasing ELL services, restructuring TAG Enrichment and Guidance and Media Centers, creation of a Behavior Intervention Specialist for grades 9 – 12, improved technology connectivity, and the reorganization of staffing positions.
Mr. Leoni presented enrollment statistics and restructuring plans for each school. He pointed out that Torrington High School is no longer the largest school in the district, and needs to be restructured to be competitive.
Mr. Leoni gave an overview of the Capital Fund, with plans to study facility needs and to delay to 2011/2012 the THS Paving, THS Equipment Garage, and TMS Chillers projects.
The total operating budget is $64,394,592, the cost to the City is $34,833.840, with 53.61% as the City share, he said, and 51% of the budget goes to salaries, 23.13% or 15 million dollars go to benefits, and out-of-district placement tuition is 9.15%. He said that after the 53.61% City share of the revenue, 41.16 % comes from the State and 5.2% from other revenues. While the total budget has increased by 3.35%, he said, the City of Torrington contribution will be an increase of 2%.
Mr. Farley compared what was budgeted last year to what is requested this year, and forecast for next year. He said he sees considerable changes, particularly in substitute salaries. Mr. Leoni explained this is for long term substitutes, which can't be predicted. He said they need to do a better job monitoring costs and adjusting accordingly.
Mrs. Traub questioned the loss of a TMS custodian, pointing out that parents are concerned the building won't be taken care of properly or the exterior neglected. Mr. Leoni replied they need to continue to raise the bar, and be more flexible. The Director of Facilities has to be more aggressive because whenever you're doing more with less, everybody needs to be doing what they're supposed to be doing at all times.
Mrs. Traub asked about the choice to move computers out of the Capital and into the General Budget. Mr. Leoni said they will do a complete technological inventory including hardware, infrastructure, storage space, and possible student email accounts. He added that longevity has to be considered.
Mrs. Traub inquired as to the grant monies that fund programs such as "Upward Bound". Mr. Leoni said he tried to present a cleaner, more transparent budget and grants should be used for non-salary items. He also pointed out that "Upward Bound" needs to have something at the high school. Mrs. Traub said non-budgeted revenue needs to be looked periodically to give yourself an idea of what you need. Mr. Leoni said if grant funding causes a district responsibility in the future, it will have the approval of the Board of Education before it's signed.
Mrs. Traub said the use of one million dollars from the health insurance fund, in reality, means that the City will provide 55 million, not 53.8.
Mayor Bingham said he wants to create a fund balance policy for the health insurance surplus and speak with bond rating agencies to get to the next rating level.
Mrs. Traub asked the Board of Education if they are confident they can accomplish their goals given the money requested. Mr. Leoni replied he likes to live within his means, his mission is to educate children. The more distractions we have to educating children, he said, the less we're able to. He said this budget allows the Board of Education to move forward, while making some sacrifices, and some internal changes and to continue to move forward. This budget sustains us for a year, he said, and they need to make more continued changes in practice and reform to sustain it further.
Mr. Scoville asked what can be done about the declining enrolment at the high school in comparison to district as a whole. Mr. Leoni said competition can be good and it should require districts to do a better job and perform better. He said we're educating our upper level students as they are the easiest and least expensive to educate, but have not tried to move that lower level, and because of that we lose students. He said the high school needs to rebuild their image and provide alternatives. Twenty-five percent of 9th graders are sitting in the same seat and then given the same classes as last year. He has started dialog between the middle and high schools. Mr. Leoni asked why our elementary schools are so popular, with Forbes, for example, at 97% proficiency in Math and a 50% free and reduced lunch population.
He said the reason is that they know every single one of their kids and have great relationships. Students are one of 65 at Forbes or Southwest, but one of 360 at the middle school. Mr. Leoni said we can be competitive again if we change our attitude. "Whatever it takes" needs to be the attitude. He wants to build an effective leadership team at the high school, build relationships with the community, and take a good look at who we are and how we can be better.
Mr. Zeller asked why there hasn't been as much give and take in the budget discussions. Mr. Rubino and Mrs. Cogswell said there was a lot of pre-planning done before budget came out, and a lot of open communication.
Mr. Zeller commented on the million dollar revenue from the health insurance fund, saying it is still a City contribution. He asked how our per pupil allocation compares with other districts and Mr. Leoni said it's in the middle. Outplacing special education students runs that number up, yet the cost to educate an honor roll student is around three or four thousand dollars. Mrs. Pesce said it's hard to think about reducing TAG and Library/Media Specialists. Mr. Leoni said the number of hours for TAG is not changing, and invited
the Board to visit school libraries saying they are not where they need to be.
Mrs. Pesce expressed concern about moving or reducing the capital budget, putting off capital projects has been a bone of contention. Mr. Bascetta spoke about the impact of delaying the TMS Chillers Project.
Mr. Rubino spoke of long term plans with the hope that, as the City's debt from school projects is paid off over the next 3 to 4 years, a list of items could be put together to maintain buildings and a referendum be created to repair these issues in one lump sum. This would fairly put it out to the public to decide to repair the schools or not, he said, and we've done well over the last twenty or thirty years on public support for education.
Mayor Bingham said it would be shortsighted to send out a referendum paying millions in interest fees when Board of Education funds can't be carried over year to year. He suggested the Board of Education utilize the City to put money into an account that grows every year, as has been done with other City Departments. That way, he said, money is available for large ticket items when you need it.
Mr. Leoni said there should be a way to have a surplus and save it all, as a reward for being fiscally responsible, but the State of CT doesn't recognize that. Many other states allow Boards of Education to carry over a percentage, he said. Mr. Leoni said plans must have sustainability, as someone else may make different decisions in the future. Mayor Bingham said it's worth discussing.
Mrs. Pesce asked if the Board of Education would be able to comply if the Board of Finance asked them to bring their budget down. Mr. Oliver said they are having those dialogs but it's very difficult and they can't expect another concession from teachers, especially since there was a loss in arbitration. He said they do quite frequently reach out to the teachers, although limited. The contract comes up again in two years. Mr. Bushka asked how the out-of-district placements could be reduced as it's the next highest cost
after salaries and benefits. Mr. Leoni said we're down to 85. There are two pieces involved -- that which we control and that which is controlled by the courts and DCF. The goal is not to send a student out for good, he said, the goal is to send them out with the hope of their coming back. Mr. Leoni added that they are looking at consolidating with some other districts and finding out why we're sending students out. He said they will be aggressively monitoring increases and the goal is to get that 85 down to 80. He said if we can do the job here, we need to do the job here and do it right. He said part of being the largest piece of Litchfield County is that you get some associated results with a larger population.
At 6:45 Mayor Bingham called a 15 minute recess.
PUBLIC HEARING Mayor Bingham opened the public hearing at 7:00 pm. Asst. City Clerk Carol Anderson read the legal notice. There was no one who wished to speak. Mayor Bingham closed the Public Hearing at 7:06
pm.
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