By James Lomuscio
Offering up her first spending plan, Westport Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer tonight unveiled a $115,358,712 proposed operating budget for the 2017-18 academic year, a 2.44 percent or $2.75 million increase over the current year.
Colleen Palmer outlines her budget tonight. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Photo from Westport Education TV
The budget is a significant drop from her initial “very preliminary” estimate in October of a 4.1 percent increase.
It was achieved by more than $900,000 in cuts, an anticipated $1.2 million from healthcare reserves, and $165,000 from the carryover account, Palmer told a Board of Education meeting.
“We kept the reductions away from the classroom and the integrity of any academic programs,” said Palmer, who took over July 1 from the retired Elliott Landon.
She added that the administration is rebidding its health insurance provider which “could bring in a couple of hundred thousand in savings.”
In response to a school board member’s concern about again targeting health reserves, Palmer called tapping into the $1.2 million “prudent in these times but not preferable.”
“With those sources of revenue, we feel confident we can bring the budget in at 2.44 percent,” she said.
The health reserve amount, however, is not definite, according to Elio Longo, school business administrator.
“I’m hoping we close out the year with the $1.2 million,” he said.
Salaries and benefits for the school system’s approximate 1,000 employees comprise 81 percent of the proposed budget, and Palmer said, “We don’t have a lot of play” in that area.
Palmer added that this year’s challenge to maintain quality education while being fiscally prudent has been exacerbated by a recently announced $440,000 cut in state educational cost sharing (ECS) grants.
“It was so disheartening getting an email from the state Department of Education saying over the holiday break we got news that our ECS was cut,” she said.
In her PowerPoint presentation, Palmer said the goal of the proposed cuts is to “avoid creating long-term problems with short-term reductions.”
Among the reductions she cited were: a footprint reduction by giving up a facility of Saugatuck Avenue adjacent to the Saugatuck Elementary School; not using the portable classrooms at the Kings Highway Elementary School; eliminating an elementary school teaching job due to enrollment declines; cutting some paraprofessional jobs, and making the preschool nursing staff half-time.
“Under the circumstances, this is a superb job,” Elaine Whitney, school board member, following the presentation.
The school board will have the opportunity to pore over the entire budget on Friday when it hunkers down for an all-day line by line review of it in the McManus Room of the Westport Library. The public is welcome.
Palmer said the budget is available on the schools’ website, http://www.westport.k-12.ct.us
