Political Divide Widens On Southington School Board Over Budget Cuts

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Democrats on the Southington Board of Education are crying foul after the GOP-led school board opted to unitaterally discuss and cut the school budget without Dem input.

The school board voted 5-2 at its last meeting to send a new $110.98 million operating education budget to the Town of Southington, namely the town council and finance board, for further input.

That spending plan is 6.28 percent larger than current spending and represents a smaller increase from the school budget submitted to the board by Southington Superintendent of Schools Steven Madancy, which called for a 7.31 percent spending hike.

Finance board members could opt to cut the school budget or keep it as is, with voters, utlimately, having the final say at the polls in the spring.

"This is a tough year, as well all know, this is probably the hardest year that I have ever seen with with the combination of inflation, insurance, transportation costs," Southington Board of Education Chairperson Colleen Clark said.

While the act of sending a budget to the town is a regular budgetary step, how the board got to the final number wasn't and that's what seemed to miff Demcroats on the school board.

Southington's education board is comprised of nine members, with six Republicans and three Democrats.

Clark, a Republican, explained initial discussions about cutting the budget were between her and Madancy.

Basically, she said, it was agreed the original increase of 7.31 percent was too high and likely wouldn't pass with voters.

That's when Clark and Madancy went over potential cuts to the non-lapsing account, which is a series of equipment purchases and educational projects, and what needed to be kept.

Ultimately, Madancy and Clark were able to trim about $795,228 from the spending plan, resulting in the percentage increase reduction.

That decision, Clark admitted, also came after she caucused with only the school board's Republicans.

This angered the school board's Democrats who were present at the Jan. 26 Southington Board of Education meeting.

Both Democratic school board members Terri Carmody and Zaya G. Oshana Jr. said they should have been consulted by Clark for input on that reduction. David J. Derynoski, the third Dem on the school board, was ill and unable to attend that meeting.

An angry Carmody questioned Clark's use of the word "we" when describing how a decision was made on the cuts, which came after the school board's budget workshops.

"That's my question, who is 'we?'" Carmody asked Clark.

"This is a nine-member board, not a six-member board and I, personally, I think it would have been courteous if we, the three Democrats on the board, were somewhat included on this discussion. It was really bothersome to me that we were not," Carmody said, adding she had questions on that decision.

"I believe that this has become very political on the board and that is very disturbing, very disturbing," Carmody said.

Clark said leaving out the Democrats in the discussions was a byproduct of her inability to spend a lot of time trying to reach school board Dems.

She said there was a "death in the family" that didn't allow her the time to spend reaching out to all board members in the way she was able to discuss the matter with fellow Republicans.

Clark said she took "full responsibility" for the move, adding she simply didn't think a budget with an increase that high would pass and work needed to be done to cut it.

"I will own that. I own that. But at the end of the day, a 7.31 percent budget was not going to pass here," Clark said.

According to Carmody, non-lapsing funds should not have been touched because the school district needed to plan for future emergencies that might require emergency expenditures.

Oshana also expressed frustration at Dems being left out and school board Dems should have been included during these budgetary discussions offline.

A motion by Oshana to table action on the budget so further discussions could ensue failed with two "yes" votes (Oshana and Carmody) and five "no" votes (the Republicans present).

A subsequent motion to finalize the budget being sent to the town was, then, approved along party lines with a 5-2 vote, with the five GOP members present voting "yes" and the two Democrats present voting "no."

For the minutes of the Jan. 26 Southington Board of Education meeting, click on this link.