More and more school boards across the state have begun forwarding on their 2008-09 budget requests to their respective town authorities in recent weeks. Final town approval is still a couple months way—more in some cases—but this is a good time to take a look at what’s happening so far.
Looking at a sample of just under half of all school districts, I see that superintendents submitted initial requests with increases averaging just over 6.5%. There have been several in the 3-4% range, and a similar number at 8+%. Most, however, ranged from 5 to 7%, in line with or slightly lower that last year’s proposals. Maybe this suggests a little foreknowledge of what to expect this year, maybe not. The difference is not marked enough to conclude that has been the case.
What has been a clear message in nearly all presentations is that fixed costs in salary, transportation and tuition contracts, employee benefits, and energy costs account for virtually all of the increases. Typically 90-95% of a school’s budget is tied up in fixed costs and fixed cost increases and this year appears to be no different. Staffing to implement a state mandate for offenders to serve suspensions in school heads a very short list of new spending items in many of the budgets.
School boards may add, cut or adopt a superintendent’s plan as submitted before passing it on to the town. So far board adopted budgets are averaging about 6% above 2007-08 spending, an indication that most have reduced the initial request—though not dramatically. In a handful of cases, the board has added a specific item or program, offsetting any reductions and increasing the overall bottom. Boards approving budgets largely intact is pretty much what you would expect, particularly since superintendents generally enter the process knowing what their boards want. It would be pointless for a superintendent to wander too far in crafting a proposed spending plan.
Except in a few cases the town responses to board requests will come in the weeks ahead as part of an overall municipal spending plan. A couple of interesting things so far:
There have been some cases—Griswold, Guilford and Southington—where the town government side budget increase has come out at 8% or more versus a school request of 6-7%. I bring that up only to point out that fixed costs in towns’ government operations, and the escalation in benefit and energy pricing, will be putting the same budget pressures on the municipal side as the school districts are facing.
Towns that have responded to board requests include New Milford, where the mayor has cut the board’s request by $1.75 million, from a 6.4% to a 3.3% increase—and directed the board to come up with the cuts to meet that figure. While some board members spoke to the severe difficulty of achieving such reductions, at least one member expressed recognition that the current environment warrants the conversation. I expect this to be a common theme this year, more so than most years. What do you think?
17 responses so far ↓
Cathy // March 15, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I received a card in the mail introducing this website. I hope that it will become a place for discussion and sharing of ideas related to education funding. I am serving on our local board of education and each year at this time we find ourselves competing for local tax dollars with the general government side of the budget. Unfunded mandates at the state level, shortfalls of state funding, and rising costs in salaries, transportation, gas/oil/diesel are making it extremely difficult to present budgets to the town taxpayers that they can afford and that maintain the educational standards that we have set for our district. Our town has been going to three and four referenda to pass budgets.
I look forward to more comments and discussion on this site.
retired from DRG I // March 15, 2008 at 9:28 pm
isn’t there a statute about the BOE crafting a budget that meets the needs of educating students?
and that underfunding is on the members to fix?
Jpublicus // March 16, 2008 at 5:34 pm
As with most everything else in this country (world) financial authorities will likely be focused only on the short term.
Those authorities will focus on near term recessionary aspects and the highly manipulated “core inflation rate” and will drastically cut most school budgets. The mid and long term inflation that has now been hard-wired into our economic future will be ignored and Boards of Education will be forced to cut. Options will be few; class size, programs, or maintenance. It won’t be pretty.
lars // March 16, 2008 at 9:34 pm
In the town where I teach, the budget presented by the BOE was just over 4%, the fifth lowest in the state at the time. The BOF, however, is demanding that the BOE reduce the budget to around 2.95%, the same percentage offered by the First Selectman in his budget. We’ve had about 4 “good” years without a budget going to referendum, or if it has, it’s been passed the first time around. I don’t want to return to the days of RIFs and other drastic measures, but it looks like the BOF has other plans. Most of our increases are in salary, benefits, building costs (oil, etc.), and student services. Things are not looking good for 2008.
Cathy // March 17, 2008 at 6:32 pm
In response to “retired from DRG I”. I am not aware of any statute that a BOE has to craft a budget that meets the needs of all students. That is an ideal goal that all BOE members strive to achieve. However, with more and more requirements due to NCLB and other unfunded mandates, reaching that goal is certainly a major challenge. There are many statutes on the books regarding education….however, all do not come with the necessary dollars to implement them. A town’s ability to pay increased taxes is the biggest driver of dollars available for education. Our taxpayers are saying no more. We presented a budget to the town council with a 5.09% increase and it has since been reduced to a 3.5% increase before it even gets to the voters. Historically our town will vote down budgets until the increase is in the 2.5% range.
retired from DRG I // March 17, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Definitely agreed.
I am now on the BOE in my town- and we have presented a budget to BOF at a 3.1% increase.
that board is not happy.
they have no knowledge of supply and demand in the administrator musical chairs- and also paying for everything I say everything is more expensive because of petroleum costs.
If all costs are going up, and we are to keep budgets in line with town growth of our grand lists, then programs and students and staff will be suffering.
It is amazing that people would think costs go up and a budget would not!
certainly i do not want to pay more in taxes, but the money will come from somewhere, not the air…
if state budget pays- we have paid for that as well-
last I heard Connecticut gets about 43 cents back for each sent to the federal govt (maybe later i heard 17!). Seems like we meed more back-
Cathy // March 18, 2008 at 7:56 pm
In the seven years that I have served on our local board of education I have seen less and less of young parents participating in the give and take of budget discussions. They are going out to vote in smaller numbers yet complain when programs or services are being reduced in their local schools. As a board we have reached out to the PTO’s at all of our schools to try and get them involved in the budget process. It amazes me that they let the power of their vote go unexercised.
After each budget referendum we receive a breakdown of votes by age group and I’m always shocked at the low turnout of the young parents.
I was wondering if there are any suggestions that others could offer us to try to bring these parents back into the process and get them involved in saving their schools.
retired from DRG I // March 22, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Yes- I would also like suggestions for getting younger voters, usually school parents, out to vote on the budgets.
When I taught for 36 years- they rarely came out- they are busy…
When you have to cut something near and dear to them, then they are upset. What a shame to have to get to that point before they take notice.
Schools and district offices as well as BOE are sending out information on budgets, hearing dates. That is certainly legal. Seems it is not convenient for most to get involved.
I truly suspect that most voters expect things to go along as usual and so if it isn’t a problem yet, they do not pay attention.
Cathy // March 24, 2008 at 8:48 pm
We are currently in DRG H after having had been in ERG F for many years. Our town is changing and the needs of the students are increasing. With 2.5 to 3% yearly budget increases we are falling behind. I admire what our administrators and teachers have been able to accomplish as we continuously make further and further reductions to para help, supplies, teachers, maintenance, etc. We need to come up with a better way to fund education than the local property tax. Our townspeople are fed up and the young parents don’t get out to vote. I’m afraid it is going to take draconian cuts, such as sports programs and large classes to wake these folks up. I don’t like the direction in which we are headed.
Our district is east of the river and I was wondering if there are other towns in the area that would be interested in gathering their BOE to discuss the needs we have as well as the big cities. It seems that our voices are not being heard!!
Doug // March 28, 2008 at 12:48 pm
As a homeowner I don’t think there’s a hard-and-fast rule about spending increases by percentage. It’s often forgotten that just because a town’s Grand List rises a bit doesn’t mean taxpayers are realizing those gains with new income. The Grand List and revaluation are just mechanisms to increase our tax bills. Often, they’re unrealistic.
The real question is, what will the actual tax increase turn out to be? Spend all you want if you have new revenue sources, but don’t increase my taxes when my pay has been cut and the cost of living has gone through the roof. I suppose I could handle a tax increase if I didn’t need heating oil.
That said, teachers need to make a living too. Maybe it’s time to start offering buyouts to older teachers, similar to those in the corporate world.
Doug // March 28, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Cathy, you make a great point about students’ needs growing. Unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more clear that a great deal of a child’s development comes from home - more than schools can be held accountable for. Changes need to be made to both the property tax system, and to the regulations that penalize schools for low achieving kids who, frankly, have a lot more problems than a school system can solve. My two cents.
Cathy // March 29, 2008 at 10:34 am
In my post of March 24th I reached out to other districts east of the river to see if we could somehow gather together and discuss issues that we have in common. The only way we can change things is if we work together. The towns, with city problems, are being ignored in the equation and we need to unite as one voice to get anything done. No one has responded. Am I to assume there is no interest?
Retired from DRG I // March 31, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Cathy-
While i do not know how many are reading this blog- Bd of Ed members are really involved with budget for next year more than future gatherings at this point-
there are two or three groups working for small towns (not big DRG I) needs in school budgets.
other-
Going to our CABE legislative breakfast- the head of out Ed Cmte in the legislature- said- all the ed finding is driven by the big cities in big trouble- so that’s the look to them.
You or other bd members may be interested in CABE’s legislative committee (or CEA, CEA-R) to move legislation to help local tax burdens shift, and in attending/speaking at hearings on ed or appropriation issues.
So many necessary items can not be more expensive and the budget only go up a small percent. It will not work for long.
There are groups to work with on these issues- we just need more help to get the voices to the legislators.
I will be the first to say that school can not be parents- and many students lack an adult acting as a parent, or even an adult. Schools can not fix that.
Several towns offer incentives to retire if it saves budget money. But Connecticut, unlike most other states, requires 35 years or age 60 and 20 years to take full part in the retirement program.
Anyway you can believe me- it was a long time, and now the family insurance is really expensive.
Doug // April 3, 2008 at 10:14 pm
I attended an informational meeting on our town’s budget last night, and thought you folks might appreciate this … our BOE is asking to spend 5.58% more, and our town manager tells us that 1% of that is to cover a state mandate for in-school suspension. I don’t remember that impact being discussed when the mandate was in the news weeks ago. I hate to say it, but that seems pretty typical of the state to do that. I hope the ECS money comes through in full soon.
Cathy // April 4, 2008 at 8:41 pm
The state mandate for in school suspension truly is another unfunded mandate. In order for the program to be of any real academic value it will not be an inexpensive proposition. We currently have in school at our middle school and will need to start it at our high school. I believe the eduction committee of the state legislature has asked for an extension to Jan 1, 2009 for the mandate and that it need not be held in the actual school building.
I don’t know the size of your school budget, but certainly 1% sounds like a large amount to start up such a program. In our district we expect to pay approximately $50,000 to hire someone with teaching credentials to run the program. We don’t want the program to be a detention center but an opportunity for kids to stay in a learning environment and keep up with their academics. There will be no TV, ipods, cellphones, and other distractions that being at home would provide.
The program needs to have a strong academic component if it is going be of value.
Ask your board of education for more details on their ideas for the program.
anon // April 9, 2008 at 11:04 am
I live in what would be classified as an ‘affluent’ town by most standards. What people don’t realize is that not everyone in the town has loads of discretionary income and all are not affluent themselves. We are a family with one school aged child and recently learned that our BOE budget has increased by 8% for the next year and the town finance committee fully backs it. What shocks me is the amount of support the town people have for the increase, especially after learning that their tax dollars pay for specialized after-school music instruction and the like! When I was growing up (which was not that long ago) if you wanted specialized music instruction, such as clarinet lessons, your parents paid for it out of their pockets with a private teacher! I think this is ridiculous and the outrageous spending MUST stop. I know my town cannot do much about teacher salaries, benefits and energy costs, but all these other excess programs can be paid for by individual parents if they so desire them for their children!!!
Retired from DRG I // May 1, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Well- you must be in a town that has supported the BOE giving that level of education-
upper level towns in Connecticut have many many perks for students not seen in less affluent towns. In 1969 Fairfield had French down to grade two and high school had a tv broadcasting station set up-
Equal education is not a Connecticut staple- your town determines the education offered. Yes, some administrations can make more of the money than others, but the elastic can only go so far.
Leave a Comment