By James Lomuscio
An all-day Board of Education workshop at the Westport Public Library today pitted fiscal concerns against the commitment to maintain top tier schools as board members scrutinized a proposed $100.54 million budget for 2012-13.
The day-long session at the Westport Public Library drew elected officials and parents. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The proposed budget, submitted by Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon to the board Tuesday evening, represents a 2.5 percent increase over the current year..
Parents, members of the town’s Representative Town Meeting (RTM) and Board of Finance and state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, were in attendance, asking questions and challenging some proposed cuts.
“This will be the struggle that we will have this year, to maintain the quality of delivery with the funding bodies’ desires,” said Jim Marpe, school board vice chairman, during a break in the discussions.
“As the superintendent pointed out in his letter, in the past few years we found low hanging fruit,” he added about cuts. “We’re now at the point where we will have to cut into programs.”
Landon, for example, proposed cutting sixth grade French, eventually eliminating it in the seventh and eight grades, a proposal parents objected to and asked be put back. The same reaction was elicited from Landon’s proposal to reduce time for elementary school physical education.
“There’s been a lot of thoughtful discussions on the superintendent’s proposed cuts,” he said.
RTM member Jack Klinge said he thought “it’s probably the right budget at the right time.”
“In my opinion from the first look at it, I think it’s a fair budget considering the times we’re in,” he said.
RTM member Dick Lowenstein took a more critical view.
“They’re not listening to what the Board of Finance suggested, and that was to have a flat budget instead of a 2.5 percent increase,” Lowenstein said. “But this is the superintendent’s proposed budget, and the RTM has the last word.”
RTM member Allen Bomes said he felt more non-teaching, salaried positions, from secretaries to custodians, could be consolidated or outsourced.
“Clearly, the goal is to have excellent education because it’s good for our property values, and it’s good for the town,” Bomes said. “But having said that, a 2.5 percent increase is a problem.
“It would be nice if they could look at the non-certified staff,” he added.
“Right now there are 47 secretaries and bookkeepers and 56 custodians,” he added. “Is there a better way of handling it? Could it be outsourced? I’m not in a position of saying get rid of so many teachers, but I would say get rid of some positions outside the classroom.”
Marpe noted that meetings such as the one today will continue throughout the month.
“This is just the first pass,” he said.
