Due to the state’s fiscal uncertainty, Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer tonight recommended $977,000 in cuts from the schools’ proposed 2017-18 operating budget.
Board members later suggested the number be reduced to $967,000. The board will consider the recommendations before finalizing the proposed budget—possibly at $114,384,346—before sending it to the Board of Finance.
The finance board had recommended the school system cut an extra $1.7 million.
“If we thought they were 100 percent acceptable, they would have been in the original budget,” Palmer said about her proposed cuts.
The original $115,351,346 proposed school budget for 2017-18 was a 2.44 percent, or $2.7 million, increase. The Board of Finance originally had lauded the budget as lean, and and said under normal circumstances it would have been quickly approved.
But that changed when Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan requiring towns to pay 30 percent of teacher pensions was announced last month. It would cost Westport next year an extra $5.9 million, $8 million when tallied with $2.1 million in state cuts
Malloy, staring down a $1.7 billion state deficit, wants towns to pitch in $407.6 million, $420.9 in 2019, for public school teacher pensions.
Affluent towns like Westport that pay teachers higher salaries than other towns would be hit hardest, having to contribute more to retirement.
Among the cuts Palmer recommended to the school board were: deferring the hiring of a director of secondary education; cutting teacher support at both middle schools; reductions of a special education teacher at Staples High Schools and a Staples school psychologist; facilities and maintenance cuts; deferring furniture purchases and taking $100,000 out of the schools’ cafeteria account.
In addition, she recommended a $100 per year increase in student parking fees at Staples High School; 360 spaces will bring in an additional $36,000 annually. See complete list below and HERE.
Michael Gordon, school board chairman, called Palmer’s proposed cut surgical but said it showed concern for the students.
“Anything that goes beyond that will have an impact on our schools next year,” Gordon said.
State Rep. Gail Lavielle spoke at tonight’s school board meeting and held out some hope. She said that a House of Representatives “relief of mandates bill” will be heard next Monday.
“You’re going a wonderful job,” Lavielle told the school board, “especially with this unwelcome situation.”
This story has been updated to clarify that the board is still considering the final cuts and has not yet made a formal decision on the proposed budget.
—James Lomuscio
Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer tweeted this summary of proposed cuts to the BOE budget. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) @WestportSuper/twitter.com
