Schools Budget Moving Forward, Downward

The Board of Education (BOE) hosted two nights of public hearings last week and, while the school's new superintendent got some positive feedback from residents, it's likely the requested 3.63 percent increase will be trimmed further before it's presented to the Board of Finance.

"The initial budget that the administration prepared is a very conservative budget to begin with. We're not looking at expanding programming [and] we're not asking for increased staffing," said Superintendent of Schools Paul Freeman. "There were actually a number of people who suggested they wished the budget could be higher."

Freeman's preliminary presentation revealed a budget request for 2012-'13 for the total operational budget of $53,027,971, which is a 3.63 percent increase over the current operating budget. The biggest increases in his presentation were in tuition and salary. Salaries are rising by 3.6 percent and represent 61.1 percent of the overall budget, while tuition is increasing by a proposed 23.16 percent, forming 4.8 percent of the budget.

"My take away from the two nights was that the people who attended the meetings understood the necessity for those cost increases," Freeman said.

BOE Chairman Bill Bloss said he still feels changes will be made to the budget.

"I think it's highly likely that changes will be made. We've already been able to make changes at the pension contribution because our pension investment performed better than we had anticipated, which will allow us to lower our pension contribution," Bloss explained. "I think it's rare that we simply move forward with the presented budget without any changes at all."

Bloss said that less than a half dozen residents spoke out during the hearings.

Some residents were concerned about certain line items, including special education and transportation.

"Most of the people commented on the need to have strong special education services and they were supportive of the concept of adding a part-time position to address special education-children receiving special education and children transitioning out of public education and into the work force," Bloss said."

The BOE was scheduled to meet on Jan. 30 (after press time) to deliberate on the public comments and make its final decision on Freeman's proposed budget. Upcoming regular meetings include a Monday, Feb. 13 meeting at the Guilford High School library and a Monday, Feb. 27 workshop at Baldwin Middle School.

For a breakdown of the current budget proposal, visit www.guilford.k12.ct.us.