Region 15 Holds Community Feedback Forum and Budget Workshop Tonight

The Region 15 Board of Education will hold its second annual Community Budget Feedback Forum and a number of budget workshops to discuss the development of the 2011-2012 school budget.

The Community Forum, which is open to parents and citizens, will be held on Wednesday, February 9 at 7:00 p.m. in the Pomperaug High School All-Purpose Room. Citizens are invited to brainstorm ideas and perceptions about the budget and its process at a Community Budget Feedback Forum. Two Region 15 teachers and members of the Strategic Planning team, Mr. Karl Buckley and Mrs. LeAnn Cassidy, will facilitate the discussion.

Dr. Sippy has developed a brochure, detailing the feedback from the 2010 Community Forum and will review the steps taken to resolve the issues over the past year. Copies of this brochure will be available on Wednesday night.

In addition, the District updated and distributed its guide to the Board of Education Budget Process, detailing a monthly accounting of the budget development process. These guides are available on the Region 15 website (www.region15.org) and at town libraries, school offices, and at Central Office. The budget workshops, which are also open to the public, will be held on March 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th. The March 16th meeting is primarily a Board of Education Finance subcommittee meeting. All workshops commence at 7:00 p.m. in the PHS All-Purpose Room. These dates are subject to change and interested citizens should check the Region 15 website for updates.

The budget workshops follow the Superintendent of Schools’ budget recommendation to the Board of Education on February 14th.

“I encourage members of the community to come to the budget workshops to witness the process by which the members of the Board develop their proposed budget. The public is also welcome to add to the discussion, should they choose,” said Dr. Frank H. Sippy, Region 15 Superintendent of Schools. “As the Board further fine-tunes its budget, we must continue to balance three spheres of influence: what the parents want, what the professionals recommend, and what the community can afford.”

The Region 15 Board of Education will present its recommended budget at a televised Public Hearing on April 11th, and will subsequently adopt a budget at their meeting immediately following the Public Hearing. The budget will go to referendum on May 4, 2011.

“The Board of Education and I have a daunting job ahead of us during this budget season. Yet I believe that keeping the budget process open and transparent helps increase our community’s understanding of what the students and schools need to continue their success.”

Important Dates to Remember: (All meetings at PHS All Purpose Room)

Feb. 9 - Community Budget Feedback Forum, 7pm
Feb. 14 – Superintendent’s Budget Proposal to the Region 15 Board of Education, 7:30 pm
March 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 – Budget Workshops, 7pm
April 11 – Public Hearing on the 2011-12 Budget, 7:30 pm
April 11 (following Public Hearing) – Board of Education to Adopt Budget
May 4 – Budget Referendum, Polls open 6am-8pm