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School officials may face a $212,000 overrun in the current budget if things don’t change by the end of the school year.
The Westport Board of Education discussed the quarterly financial report during its meeting Monday night. The report covers the first half of the 2005-06 budget year that ends on June 30.
Nancy Harris, assistant superintendent for business, said there is a potential $212,000 shortfall because of electricity, fuel and tuition costs.
The 22.4 percent rate hike by Connecticut Light and Power combined with heating fuel increases is causing a deficit of $237,775, according to the documents filed with the board.
Harris said school administrators are making changes to save electricity costs, including changing light bulbs that are more efficient.
The tuition budget—which covers special education students placed out of the district—is showing a deficit of $465,000 at this time, she said.
The costs, however, are “fluid,” she said, because students are constantly placing out of the system or choosing to come back to the district.
“The figures are based on our current purchase orders, but things could quickly change,” she said.
State officials should be paying the district $720,000 to cover special education tuition costs under a formula it uses to pay grants, Harris said, but state officials are not fully funding the grants.
Right now, about 70 percent of the total grant is being paid to each district, she said.
“They may pay more, but we don’t know yet,” she said. “We’ll know by the end of January.”
If there are no changes in the district’s special education placements, Harris said, school officials will need to make changes elsewhere in the budget to cut back funding.
Surpluses in other accounts—including nearly $277,000 in salaries—are covering a portion of the shortfalls in other accounts.
Several board members asked if action was necessary at this time, but Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon said if he thought it was a real problem at this time he would have brought forward a recommendation.
“I don’t think we’ll be in deficit at the end of the year,” he said.
