The Westport Board of Education now faces a large surplus in its budget after approving a plan for full-day kindergarten, and Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon hopes his original budget proposal is restored.
The board approved a plan this week to have three full days of kindergarten and two shorter days for students, and the plan could bring $390,000 in transportation savings because there would not need to be the mid-afternoon kindergarten transportation run.
Landon said the school board will need to have discussions on what to do with the savings because some of it could be used to accomplish transportation goals.
“One of the board’s goals is to look into tracking systems for the vehicles,” he said. “We may also look at (Global Positioning Systems) and sensors for the buses. And then there is the question of maintaining a sufficient number of drivers for the long-term.”
If the money does not go back into transportation, however, he wants it to be used to restore budget cuts, Landon said.
The school board made about $636,000 in cuts to operating expenses while adding $300,000 to its insurance fund before approving its proposed budget at its Feb. 5 meeting. The board approved an $88.9 million proposed 2007-08 school budget, which is a 8.4 percent increase over the current budget (See WestportNow Feb. 6).
Some of the cuts included additional teachers at Staples High School and paraprofessionals for the middle school gifted program.
When asked what items he would ask to be placed back in the budget first, Landon said he would recommend his original budget.
He expects, however, for the Board of Finance to cut the budget further, he said.
“The Board of Finance has made non-veiled threads about the size of our budget and that they’d rather give the money to (municipal costs) than the schools,” he said.
When asked why the budget increase is so large, Landon said rising health insurance costs have been “deadly” on the school budget.
“Our expenses are higher and we need to budget them at that amount,” he said.
He also cited the new teacher contract with its negotiated salary increases as another factor for the large budget increase.
“But we are consistent with other contracts in the area,” he said.
I second that!
Is anyone else amused at how the Supt’s office played the BOE? Full-day KG has always been a cost savings, ever since it was first discussed 5+ years ago.
Does anyone ever play the BOE???
I thought it was the BOE that reduced the Supt’s budget request by $680K, adding $300K to the insurance reserve. The BOF hasn’t had their chance yet.
Or am I out of step…? Either way, the reduction was effectively nullified, and the Board didn’t see it coming.
Sorry , I may have misread the prev. comment, or it contained a typo – BOE or BOF? If BOF then, my comment on the previous entry from DL would be: “absolutely correct, but amusing, perhaps not!”