Likly: School Budget Too High, Underfunds Education

*Editor's Note: The following is a missive distributed by Board of Education member Bruce Likly prior to a vote on the Board of Education budget on Thursday, Feb. 3 and is being reprinted with his permission:

Dear Friends and Fellow Parents;

Sorry for the directness of this message but I believe your town needs your help and your efforts can make the difference we need.

I've hidden your name from others I am sending this to so you can quietly decline my request if you choose.

The proposed school budget cuts, outlined in the attached spreadsheet which I received this morning, will be presented and voted on at tonight's BOE meeting (and most likely approved by 4 of the 6 members of the BOE - thus passing it and sending it to the BOF).   I'm powerless to change it unless the citizens of our town get the facts and get outraged.

The proposed budget is not only too high but it also significantly underfunds important educational components.

Why can't we do a better job of providing for our children; promoting and developing higher quality school programming while keeping an eye on our budget?

Did you know:

• We killed enrichment in K-5 last year to "save" less than $100K
• We eliminated the science Para-professional at Cider Mill last year to "save" $40K - which reduced the "River Walk" program.
• We aren't implementing wireless networking in the schools to "save" $60K (total cost to the district for all 4 schools).
• We aren't completing the smart board implementation to save ~$600K (we still need an additional 133 smart boards - most of our neighboring towns have completed their implementations already and are moving on to providing students and staff with laptops in some cases).

 Yet the proposed budget your BOE will adopt tonight will:

• Pay our computer staff ~$400K a year.
• Pay our janitorial staff ~$2.2M a year.
• Pay to keep 41 secretaries on the payroll each year for a total cost of $2.3M a year (the TOTAL interscholastic athletic budget is only ~$1.1M/yr BTW). 
• Pay our law firm over $400K a year when there are other law firms in CT, who also specialize in education law and cost up to $100 per hour less  than ours, who have achieved more favorable union contracts for their towns than our firm has.

The significant increasing-expense drivers affecting our school budget for next year are the following contractual obligations which were negotiated several years ago by our current law firm and your current Chairman, Vice Chairman and Secretary of your BOE (who are advocating for a higher budget and higher taxes now):

• $685K increase in teacher salaries
• $549K increase in "certified" staff salaries (people holding teaching certificates who are not designated as classroom teachers)
• $445K in med/life insurance benefits
• $361K increase in retirement benefits

We have many many spectacular teachers.  I am not advocating that we harm them.  They are what make our district great but even they might not have all of the facts because they aren't told everything their union leadership is.

Some other "fun facts":

• Our current law firm, administration and BOE Chairman do not want to formally request the teachers union consider opening their contract early or consider concessions to help us address our economic issues.
• Implementation of activity fees for after school programs are projected (by some) to potentially generate between $250-600K in funds that could assist the district in maintaining and improve programming in these difficult economic times.
• The 4 members of the BOE who make up the voting majority don't have kids in the schools anymore, flatly refuse to consider participation fees and will vote through reductions in programming that will hurt our kids. 
• We have 274 designated class room teachers on the payroll (out of 588 total district employees).  We have 4290 students.  That’s a ratio of one classroom teacher for every 15 students yet we don't have a single primary classroom with less than 18 students in it but we have electives with less than 10.
• Of our $70M budget only $23.4 million of it goes to payroll for employees designated as classroom teachers.
• We have an additional 314 employees on the payroll who are not designated as classroom teachers.

Hopefully you've seen from the above, we don't necessarily need a larger school budget to provide a better educational experience but we do need more insight into the decisions being made and an opportunity to publically weigh the consequences of the decisions being made by your BOE on your behalf.

Your town and your schools need your help and insistence to drive greater transparency, accountability, efficiency and quality improvement in our schools.

Finally, I understand there is a fear of retribution for "standing up" on these issues and fear that your views may adversely affect your kids educational experience in our schools.  I sit on the BOE and have the same fears.

My question is what's worse:  Do nothing and let the system crumble while your child is in it or do something and know you did all you could while risking potential retribution from people who can be fired if it happens?

My neck is obviously on the line (even more so with this email and sadly some will decide I'm the enemy for doing so) but I'm putting it there for my kids and yours.  Please consider doing the same.

This is our town and these are our schools.  Together we can and have to make a difference.

Please consider sharing this with your fellow parents and telling your BOE to shelve the vote on the budget tonight.  Tell them you demand that they go back and find a way to put what our kids need back in the budget without voting for a budget and tax increase.  They won't do it unless you demand it.

Thanks.

Bruce M. Likly

Parent (also Elected member of the Wilton BOE)