Parents Tell Town Council: No More Cuts to School Budget

Following "deep" cuts totaling more than $2 million imposed last month by the Board of Finance, about a half dozen school parents implored the New Canaan Town Council Wednesday to refrain from making further reductions to the proposed 2013-2014 school budget, which at $78.7 million currently represents an increase of about 3.75% over the current budget.

"I know that the Town Council cannot put more money back into the budget, but I implore you to not make any further cuts to the school budget," said school parent Diane Hobbs during the public hearing portion of Wednesday's meeting at the New Canaan Nature Center. "Even though my daughter's class will be the largest fifth grade class to enter Saxe [Middle School] in 20 years, and the district's school population is among the highest it has been in years, the Board of Finance has made enormous cuts to the school budget this year, totaling $2.5 million."

"While there are many on the Board of Finance who I deeply respect, these cuts are evident of a sentiment that devalues the importance of our schools," Hobbs said. "I am disturbed by this trend and I hope dearly that it does not continue."

School mom Courtney Langford said she wasn't aware of the "urgency of the situation" with the school budget until about six weeks ago, when she first heard about the cuts proposed by the BoF. She said the gravity of the cuts really hit home when she spoke with another school parent who pointed out that "once cuts are made to the school budget, it equates to lost opportunities for the children."

"Our children are only in fourth grade once in their lives... and if you cut programs or teachers or anything else, those children lose those opportunities, and they don't come back," Langford said. "That's where the bottom line lies for me, is those once in a lifetime opportunities."

Denis LaPolice, an advocate for New Canaan High School's Kids in Crisis program, said he was grateful that the Town found a way to , but said he was concerned when he heard that some BoF members "didn't have information with regard to how many children are in the program and the value of this program."

"I can tell you that as soon as it was taken out of the budget, we had a petition with more than 300 signatures... ," LaPolice said. He added that his purpose in attending the meeting was to let the Town Council members, as well as the community, know "how important the program is to the children of New Canaan."

"I don't want to be up here next year and the year after [having to defend the program from future cuts]," he said.

Jennifer Richardson, co-president of the Saxe Middle School Parent Teacher Committee (PTC), also urged the Town Council to refrain from making further cuts, as the school district is one of the main reasons so many families move to New Canaan.

"I moved to New Canaan in the middle of seventh grade and I remember what a financial strain it was for my parents," she said. "And they said to me, 'the New Canaan public schools are worth it.' There are so many parents in town today who say the same thing."

"The fact that the proposed budgets have already been significantly cut by the BoF means we already have a bare bones budget for next year," Richardson said. "What does this mean? To name a few, it means cuts to non-certified staffing — cuts to curriculum development — and something which we feel is really important, [cuts to] technological initiatives."

"It's really important for you to know that the parents really value technology — they continue to partner with the district in funding iPads, laptops and smartboards for all the schools," Richardson said. "Last year the Saxe PTC purchased 24 laptops, among many other things, and this year we are discussing iPads [with an aim to] fund two carts with 20 iPads each, for all the fifth grade classrooms; iPads for all the fifth grade teachers; and additional iPads for the guidance department."

Richardson pointed out that such investments in technology are needed in order to comply with state's Common Core Standards — "a responsibility that really should fall to the district, but since this is not the case, the PTCs are constantly struggling to make up for the shortfalls."

"Any further cuts [to the school budget] will result in a reduction of education services to our children," she said. "Please pass this budget as is, our town children are worth it."

School mom Maria Weinberg said the $2.5 million in cuts imposed by the BoF "will definitely have an impact this year."

"It's an unprecedented [cut] — in the past nine years there hasn't been anything close to the $2.5 million cut that we're seeing this year," she said. "I ask that you make no further cuts to this budget. The last five years have been very lean years for our school system — budget increases since 2009 were 2.49%, 1.39%, 2.97%, 1.92% — and this year, if I calculate correctly, 3.75%. If you average that over the past five years its a 2.5% annual increase. Few if any districts within our DRG, under the pressure of rising enrollment, can match [these low increases]. These ongoing [cuts] and resulting limiting budgets will come at a cost to our school system and our entire community."

Board of Education member Hazel Hobbs said with the recent cuts by the BoF, "I am deeply concerned about how we can keep the high quality education of which we are all so proud."

"You've seen first hand how cost increases are directly related to our contract obligations, which were negotiated with your knowledge and support; increases in insurance obligations; the state mandates for teacher evaluations and student anti-bullying legislation; security measures implemented to increase student safety; and our increasing enrollment," Hobbs said, referring to the major drivers of this year's budget increase. She added that the cuts imposed by the BoF "were the largest in my memory of living in New Cannan for 45 years."

"We will do our best — but please do not shackle us with additional cuts," she said.

Included in the proposed school budget is a (i.e. unarmed security guards) in order to bolster security at the elementary schools and middle school in the wake of the Dec. 14 school shooting in Newtown. During Wednesday's meeting, Town Council member Roger Williams asked his fellow council members to consider postponing the "trial" period of using guards, and cutting the $226,000 from the budget, in light of pending gun control legislation in the state General Assembly.

"As most of you have probably seen from the news, in Hartford they are voting on gun control legislation," Williams said, adding that the proposed legislation was being debated in the state Capitol that same night. "There is an entire section in the gun control [bill] dealing with school safety... and it actually sets forth that no later than Jan. 1, 2014, that the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection shall develop school security and safety plan standards... "

He said in addition a section of the bill "deals with school safety infrastructure," including the design of new entryways at all schools to enhance security (including the use of key cards, buzzers, video cameras, bullet proof glass, etc.)

"In addition the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection is to develop a grant program for infrastructure projects... as well as training for school personnel," he said, referring to the pending legislation.

"So what we're seeing coming out of Hartford is a new set of standards on school security," Williams said. "In some ways we might be getting the cart before the horse. We may have to 're-do' some of the things we've done... "

"It just strikes me that if Hartford is acting on this, it may be premature for us to proceed down a path on this... until we know really what standards the state wants... as well as potential reimbursement for those expenses," Williams said.

Several Town Council members, however, said they were opposed to the idea of cutting the $226,000.

Town Council member John Emert, for example, pointed out that the proposal to add the guards to the schools was the result of extensive collaboration by the school administration, Board of Education, Police Commission, the chief of police and other town officials, and further is proposed as a "trial" program that will be reviewed at the end of the school year.

"I guess there is an issue of urgency — people in town have been anxious to put a program like this into effect," Emert said.

Town Council member Steve Karl agreed with Emert that it would be detrimental to postpone the program, considering the amount of time and thought that had been put into it.

"We were urged to take action to get a temporary program in place, so we could review it after we put it into place — and the community responded with a lot of input," Karl said. "Seeing as we came to agree that it was something that was reviewable... to wait until 2014 to get the regulations, and then start, it would seem that by the time we complete the process we would be way behind the eight ball..."

Town Council member Penny Young also agreed, saying, "there is a sentiment in the community that we need to get going — we need to be responding — and we need some resources to do that." She pointed out that "even if there are grants available, it takes a while for them to be applied for an approved — so in the meantime we need to be able to move forward."

I think we should just move forward with it and let the process play out," Young said, adding that the Board of Education will have to return with a new request later this year either way.

Town Council member Christine Hussey said from what she had heard, "there are many people in town who aren't happy that we haven't done something thus far — I think we should leave it as is — and I will not vote to remove it."

Williams, however, said he was concerned about hiring guards "when the bill indicates that it will require school staff to be trained." He said the town could be in a spot if it hires guards under a year-long contract, but then finds out that it's not allowed to use them after Jan. 1, as per the new law.

Now in the final stretch of the budget process, the Town Council is scheduled to vote on the proposed $132 million town budget (including the school budget) at its upcoming meeting on April 9 at the Lapham Center.

Related Topics: New Canaan Budget FY14