Board of Ed. Discusses Budget In More Detail At Workshop Meeting

With a total proposed budget of $79,995,435 – an increase from last year of 2.81 percent – it is time for the Board of Education to carefully examine each part of the proposal department to department.

At Monday night’s special budget workshop meeting, department heads gave presentations regarding their priorities and the necessary cuts for the 2011-12 budget – technology director Josh Smith, special education director Karen Berasi and facilities manager Joe Morits detailed their budgets Monday.

The Board was especially impressed by Berasi’s special education presentation – special education was seen earlier in the budget season as a potentially large weight on the budget due to a cut in state and federal funding this year, but Berasi presented a modest 1.57 percent increase.

Berasi gave credit to the special education staff for becoming more efficient. Although the budget has numerous staff cuts, including three paraprofessional positions, Berasi said she foresaw no decrease in services.

Earlier, the department had been seeing an increase in the severity of disabilities, but with the overall number of special education students decreasing from 517 last year to 442 this year, the cost remains about the same.

Two concerns Berasi had were for the increase in prevalence of emotionally disturbed students from 29 to 42 and autistic students from 46 to 66 year to year.

Overall, though, Berasi felt the department has gotten better at following criteria in identifying special needs students – one example was a large drop in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) students.

“The rules change constantly, and we’re told when we’re over-identifying students,” Berasi said. “We can tell the difference between a disability and a weakness, and it’s all about progress.”

Technology director Josh Smith was able to adopt a decrease in the budget from last year for his department.

Technology, due to its ever-changing nature, progress “will be slowed but not stopped,” according to Smith.

One big cut will be to the help teachers receive in learning to use the new technology and using it in the classroom.

“In my world, you never learn how to do anything because as soon as you do, ‘version 2.1’ comes out,” Smith said. “Teachers are definitely comfortable with technology now, but technology’s never static.

He said there will be three or four major upgrades expected to the systems currently in place.

Much of the technology cost in the budget was for the “back end,” Smith told the Board, meaning improvements will be made mostly to the network and phone systems and less so to classrooms and hardware.

Although some systems are out of date, Smith said, the replacing of old equipment will happen more slowly than recommended.

Facilities director Joe Morits also expects to squeeze his department into a tighter budget next year, proposing a 1.98 percent decrease.

The two main pressures on the budget being the price of gas and a meter adjustment at Barlow Mountain Elementary School, Morits found more in staff reductions, electricity rates and contracted services and fees.

Although the master list of projects for the schools runs long and into $84 thousand, much of these will be deferred for a proposed $25,230 project list of the most crucial for next year.

The Board made some recommendations as well, mostly applied to heating, for possibly lower temperatures in the schools and charging more for space rental. Morits took these into consideration.

Facilities represents 9.5 percent of the total school budget.

The Board also discussed transportation, which will be seeing a large 6.18 percent increase due to fuel prices.

The buses run on a one-hundred percent assumed ridership basis – members of the board recommended to superintendent Deborah Low that the district have parents who would never put their children on a bus sign a form saying so.

Low was unsure of how many parents would sign but said she would look into it – according to state statute, districts are required to provide transportation.

A public hearing will be held at the Feb. 14 Board of Education meeting regarding the overall budget, as well as another workshop if necessary.

Another hearing will be held Feb. 26 at 10 a.m. at Scotts Ridge Middle School.

The Board will vote on the proposed budget on Feb. 28 and submit the final proposed budget to the town on March 7.