Project Choice Again Topic of East Granby Town Meeting

While the budget presentations by the Board of Selectmen and the Board of Education at the third East Granby Town Meeting on Thursday evening were different from the first two, the comments from the general public were very much in line with the previous meetings.

The overall budget request is $18.48 million — $4.21 million for general government, $14.01 million for the school board, $174,000 for debt repayment and $416,666 for capital/reserve fund. The budget would represent a 2 percent increase over this year’s spending and would mean that the mill rate would increase by .3 mills — or 1.1 percent — from 27.0 to 27.3 mills.

Focusing on Project Choice

Residents focused almost exclusively on the school district’s proposed budget, which represents a 3.28 percent spending increase over current levels. Most of those comments were directed in some form on the school district’s level of involvement in the Project Choice program, in which the district accepts students from Hartford pursuant to the landmark Sheff v. O’Neil settlement.

The school district receives $10,500 for each Project Choice kindergartener and $6,000 for students in all other grade levels.

Resident Colleen Colabella expressed her concerns that the school district, by accepting 35 additional Choice students to bring the total number to 71, would comprise 8.9 percent Choice students. Colabella said that other neighboring school districts, such as Granby, Suffield, Farmington, Avon and Simsbury had between 2 and 4 percent of their student enrollment comprising Choice students.

“I think [the number of East Granby Choice students] is excessive,” said Colabella, who said she was concerned that the funding for Choice students would be reduced back to the $2,000 per pupil of two years ago.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christine Mahoney responded that it would be unlikely that funding would be reduced without a lawsuit, given the level of commitment of school districts in towns that adjoin Hartford.

Betty Tomolonis said that she had a problem with the school board balancing its budget by accepting additional Choice students.

“They’re not just a $6,000 check; they’re real people,” said Tomolonis, who added that the schools shouldn’t accept students because “we need the money.”

But school board Chairman Kirby Huget said that, while increased Choice enrollment does mean additional money for East Granby, the school district accepts those students because “active participation in the Choice program is the right thing to do.”

Mahoney added that the Choice program does not just benefit the students from Hartford, “[i]t does benefit our students. It benefits all students.”

Several residents also spoke in favor of the Choice program.

Karen Coushaine said that her 8-year-old was becoming more well rounded by going to school with students who are a different race, religion and from a different economic background.

“These are good kids, by and large,” Coushaine said. “I feel badly that there is this generalization that they come from Hartford means they come with problems.”

Reduction from 50 to 35 new students

The discussion came on the heels of the announcement by Mahoney and Huget that the school district has reduced the number of additional Choice students it will accept next year from 50 to 35, which means that the district will receive some $99,000 less in reimbursements and bonus grants than originally anticipated.

The school district, therefore, had to reduce its budget by $159,000, not just the $60,000 the Board of Finance ordered after the second referendum failed in May.

Mahoney said that the reductions would come from a number of different line items, including, among other things, cutting the number of non-certified staff by three, as well as the funds for substitute teachers, heating and oil, supplies and legal fees.

What’s more, while the school district has slotted for 35 additional Choice students, Mahoney said that doesn’t guarantee that there will be 35 kids who will register.

“As of 3:45 [p.m.] today, we had 19 registrations,” Mahoney said.

Without the registrations, the school district will have to find other ways of further reducing its budget, Mahoney said.

Mahoney also explained the challenges that the school district faces in budgeting for what are often moving targets.

Using the non-certified staff line item as an example, Mahoney provided four scenarios in which the budget could increase through, among other things, unplanned events such as illnesses.

Mahoney also highlighted several unfunded mandates that have come from the state that also drive up the cost of the budget. For example, the legislature recently passed an education law that includes a requirement to create a digital portfolio for every child in grades 6 through 12 that “follows” the student throughout their school career.

The school district received $5,000 for that project.

East Granby public schools also have to prepare for online standardized testing, Mahoney said.

“We don’t have enough computers in our schools,” Mahoney said. “It takes people, time and other resources to do those things.”

Mahoney said that the school district is run efficiently and that every effort was made to save money wherever and whenever that is possible.

“I tell my people to stop copying and stop killing trees,” she said. “We watch our costs. We collaborate with other towns. … We stalk the oil people for better pricing. We play games with a lot of things to capture the lowest price. We renegotiate contracts with vendors all the time to recoup dollars to apply to instructional programs to meet mandates.

“We fully understand what is happening in the economy and its very unfortunate and its very poorly timed. … What we do in the schools every day is governed by some law or rule. We don’t make it up.”

Nevertheless, several people in the audience were unmoved.

“Throwing more money at education doesn’t make it better,” Bo Colabella said.

But Donna Mottera defended the school system, noting that an East Granby High senior was going to Harvard in the fall.

"East Granby should be pretty proud," Mottera said. "Our kids work very hard. ... I think we owe a great deal to our kids."

Cash reserves?

First Selectman James Hayden at the Town Meeting discussed a truncated version of the government budget that includes a 2.5 percent — or $13,400 — increase.

Resident Tim Horan suggested that the town dip into its $2.5 million cash reserves.

“Why are we raising taxes?” Horan asked. “We’re sitting pretty good. We don’t have to raise taxes, we just have to take a little bit out.”

Finance board co-chair Tami Zawistowski explained that the town needed to maintain a certain amount of funds in reserve in order to maintain a good credit rating, which enables the town to borrow money at low interest rates.