East Granby School Board Adjusts Budget

Pursuant to the Board of Finance’s decision at last week’s public hearing, the East Granby Board of Education Monday evening reduced its 2012-13 budget request to $14.2 million, which represents a 4.46 percent spending increase over current year.

The school board had initially proposed a budget that requested a 5.3 percent spending increase. The finance board subsequently provided guidance to the school board to reduce the budget such that it was seeking a 4.9 percent spending increase to take to the public hearing.

The finance board further trimmed the spending increase down to 4.46 percent last week at the public hearing.

To meet the finance board’s directive, the school board made $114,988 in reductions to the budget the school board originally adopted with a 5.3 percent spending increase, according to school board Chairman Kirby Huget.

“We went back to the 5.3 percent budget so the process mirrored what we did [to get down to 4.9 percent],” Huget said in a telephone interview.

The make the reduction, the school board decreased funding in the areas of certified and non-certified substitutes as well as magnet and private school tuition, Huget said.

The 4.46 percent spending increase still contemplates accepting 50 additional Project Choice students, Huget said, in addition to increases in pay-to-participate at the high school and an institution of a $20-per-semester student parking fee.

Huget said that the budget adjustment means that the school district had some variables.

“Any adjustment below the adopted budget requires taking some risks and gambles,” Huget said. “We deal with so many unknowns.”

Among those unknowns is how many East Granby students will decide to enroll in magnet schools and the number of students with special needs next year.

“We don’t know those things day to day, let alone year to year,” Huget said, adding that, for example, the need for more resources for special needs students could change literally overnight. “We make adjustments as necessary.”

What’s more, Huget said that while the budget includes 50 additional Choice students - which is the maximum number of students the school district can take without adding staffing - there is no guarantee that the state will actually provide that number of students to East Granby. Accepting 50 Project Choice students would mean that the district would also receive over $370,000 in state funding.