Education Budget Presented to Town Council

The Board of Education presented its 2011-12 budget proposal to the Town Council during a joint meeting of the two panels Monday night.

The budget request of $62,711,007 is the same as the current fiscal year. The board had asked Superintendent of Schools John Gallacher to come up with a flat-funded budget, which the board approved in late January.

Widespread changes are being made to the school system beginning with the 2011-12 school year, including a reorganization of the town's elementary schools into K-2 and 3-5 configurations. Sixth-graders will be attending John F. Kennedy Middle School beginning in September.

K-2 schools and their numbers of projected students will be Henry Barnard (375), Enfield Street School (342), Nathan Hale (270) and Hazardville Memorial (268). Schools housing grades 3-5 will be Prudence Crandall (422), Eli Whitney (419) and Edgar H. Parkman (400).

Harriet Beecher Stowe and Thomas Alcorn Schools will be closed under the reorganization plan.

The board expects a fixed cost increase of $1,487,451, or 2.37 percent over the current year.

The majority of the cost savings needed to offset those increases will be in staff reductions. The proposal calls for the elimination of an elementary administrator, 4.5 elementary teachers, two elementary nurses, two elementary secretaries and a pair of half-time elementary secretary assistants. In addition, six retiring elementary teachers and a retiring high school teacher will not be replaced, resulting in a total savings of $1,063,500.

Eight retiring teachers will be replaced by younger teachers at the lower end of the pay scale, resulting in a savings of $240,000. Changes to the health insurance program will save an additional $183,951.

Gallacher said special education is expected to cost $2.87 million, about $1 million more than the current year. The town is expecting about 60 percent reimbursement from the state. More than 800 students currently receive special education services in Enfield.

Board chairman Greg Stokes said, "It was a very good presentation to the Town Council. They asked some very good questions, and they saw that the board did a good job working with a zero increase."

Mayor Scott Kaupin, who conducted the meeting as head of the Town Council, said, "There was some really good dialogue regarding their level-funded budget and how they got there."

A charter-mandated public hearing on the budget will be held Wednesday, April 27 at Enfield High School at 7 p.m. The council must finalize the entire town budget by May 18.