School Closures Proposed to Mend Naugatuck Budget Gap

Naugatuck officials are considering closing a borough elementary school as one of the ways to fill a $1.4 million funding gap caused by the loss of a large chunk of federal grant money that the school system relied on to pay over the past two years.

The facility in question is Central Avenue Elementary School, which, if closed, would net the borough $1 million in savings in the 2012-13 fiscal year.

The K-4 school, one of six in Naugatuck, needs many repairs, officials said. Because of its location, officials said it would be feasible to redistribute students to other nearby schools if Central Avenue School had to be closed.

District officials are also examining the possibility of closing the  building and relocating the facility's early learning Head Start Program to a building formerly occupied by the now-vacant Saint Hedwig’s School, according to a letter Board of Education Chairman David Heller issued to Patch.

If this happens, it would net the borough $500,000 in savings, said Superintendent John Tindall-Gibson.

Regardless, he stressed, these are just concepts at the moment and no decision has been made either way. But, both proposals they are now officially on the table and will be examined as the budget season goes forward.

Gap Opens After $1.7 Million in Grant Funds Spent

Like any budget year, 2012-13 isn't any different: the board is facing contractual increases from teachers, rising health care costs and other expenses, Heller noted in his letter.

And, he said, the education board always has to face the challenge of balancing student needs against that of the local taxpayers.

“Closing schools is never the preferable solution to budgetary challenges, but such decisions are made to keep teachers in classrooms and preserve important programs that are critical to student achievement,” Heller wrote in the letter. “While no final decision has been made, members of the BOE believe they have an obligation to inform parents, students, staff and taxpayers of the potential for change to our district.”

The reason for the proposal lies in a looming $1.4 million gap in the upcoming fiscal year, which will be accrued after the school district spends the remaining federal dollars allocated to Naugatuck through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is known commonly as federal stimulus money.

Two years ago, the federal government gave the borough $1.7 million in ARRA funds, which was allocated to schools and towns across the country through a multi-billion dollar stimulus program.

The Board of Education applied $300,000 of that money to the operating budget in the 2010-11 school year and applied the remaining $1.4 million to the 2011-12 school budget.

With that money now completely gone, the board’s finance subcommittee — which discussed the budget proposals during a meeting Wednesday at the Tuttle Building — will now look into other options to fill the gap. And, as Heller noted, the possibility of closing Central Avenue isn’t a decision that will be made lightly.

“Please be assured that each and every board member, Superintendent Dr. John Tindall-Gibson, and the entire administrative team at the  understands that closing schools has a significant impact on many in our community,” Heller said in the letter. “Decisions of this nature are not made without careful deliberation and input from stakeholders.”

(See a full copy of his letter in the attached PDF).

Tindall-Gibson said Central Avenue School administrators were notified of the possible closure earlier on Wednesday. 

Finance Committee Chairman James Jordan said the possibility of closing a school is a “financial proposal” at the moment, which has yet to be discussed in any long form. Jordan, as well as other members of the subcommittee, first received some of the major details Wednesday.

The subcommittee agreed the closure matters would be reviewed in full during a budget discussion on March 27.

Staff Reductions A Possibility

Tindall-Gibson noted that the $1.4 million gap was not a surprise, and that district officials had already been considering ways to accommodate that funding decrease.

Asked whether teachers would be cut under the proposed Central Avenue closure, he responded that some positions would be eliminated while others would be relocated.

But, Tindall-Gibson added, if Naugatuck ultimately decides on closing the school, then it would likely make up for any further staff reductions.

The reason Central Avenue School is in the spotlight has to do with an assessment filed three years ago. The borough hired JCJ Architecture to deliver a report on the infrastructure of Naugatuck schools and to assess the sustainability of each building.

The report states that three facilities — , Central Avenue and Prospect Street schools — were in the worst condition and in the greatest need of modifications such as building code updates and handicapped accessibility upgrades, Tindall-Gibson said.

On top of this, enrollment has been consistently dropping in Naugatuck for the past 12 years, Tindall-Gibson said; it has decreased 21 percent over the last 10 years. Also, the staff population has decreased 16 percent, he said.

Budget Hike Along With Potential School Closure

The issue at hand, however, centers on how to approach not only the funding gap but also a proposed increase in the 2012-13 school year.

School Business Manager Wayne McAllister presented the finance committee with a proposed 2012-13 school budget that called for a 9 percent increase in the upcoming fiscal year.

Immediately some members derided that figure and questioned the need to increase the budget at such a rate while still opting to close Central Avenue. But both Heller and McAllister noted the high increase included the entire initial request from school administrators, a number that could be pared down.

They added that oftentimes the proposed increase requests always come in at a high rate — some as high as 12 percent in previous years — and it’s always up to the board to knock that funding hike down to a suitable level.

The committee members agreed that a 2.5-to-3-percent budget increase would be a suitable target.

Either amount would still be the highest increase the education board has seen — after getting a zero-percent increase three years ago, a .54-percent increase two years ago and a .97 percent increase last year.

“Preliminarily, we’ll try and figure out what options there are that we can work on, between where we are now and the (proposed) 3 percent,” Tindall-Gibson said.