By James Lomuscio
Westport and its school system are strong and well positioned to tackle present and future challenges.
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First Selectman Jim Marpe (l) and Board of Education Chairman Michael Gordon address today’s Town Hall meeting as moderator Jeff Wieser watches. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
That’s the good news to hear First Selectman Jim Marpe and school board chairman Michael Gordon tell it at today’s “State of the Town and Schools” talk at Westport Town Hall.
The not-so-good news is that the Connecticut’s fiscal crisis is hitting home with less state funding, and health insurance claims are straining school budgets.
On top of that, the new federal tax law limiting local property and state tax deductions might dissuade prospective residents from moving to Westport, or make it difficult to retain current ones.
“As we look to the future, our efforts to remain fiscally responsible, to retain and enhance our quality of life and to maintain our economic vitality will be challenging for a number of reasons,” Marpe said at the 90-minute talk co-sponsored by the Westport Rotary and Westport Sunrise Rotary Clubs.
Other challenges Marpe cited were “a deteriorating transportation infrastructure that’s added at least 15 to 20 minutes to the Metro-North commute to New York City,” plus automobile and truck traffic clogging roads on a regular basis.”
“These are the things that keep me up at night,” Marpe said citing fiscal responsibility in maintaining the current mill rate and maintaining the town’s “economic vitality and quality of life,” as well as transportation issues.
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Part of the audience in the Town Hall auditorium for today’s meeting. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
“The good news is that in the Tri-State region, Westport remains an attractive and desirable location at least relative to nearby communities, but our challenge is to invest in keeping Westport in that position,” he added.
In presenting his “State of the Westport Public Schools: Investing in the Next Generation” report, Gordon touted the top-tier quality of the district.
He called Schools Superintendent Colleen Palmer “one of the best superintendents in the country,” and he lauded parental involvement and PTA activities, “excellent special education” and the district’s focus on innovation.
“The state of our schools is strong, and it’s all part of the strategic plan,” Gordon said.
But there are fiscal challenges. Palmer’s proposed 2018-19 academic year operating budget of $119,170,202 is a $4,792,855, or a 4.19 percent increase, over the current year due to increased medical claims trending unfavorably for the district.
Monday night, the Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the superintendent’s budget.
In addition to health care costs, the Connecticut’s fiscal malaise has cut into state educational cost sharing grants.
Other issues the schools will have to face include declining enrollments in elementary grades; reevaluating school start times; exploring how certain departments, such as technology, finance and human resources, can be shared with the town to cut costs, and looking at increasing diversity among teachers and staff members.
During a question and answer period that followed, one resident asked what the schools were doing in regard to last week’s reports about sexual assault and harassment at Staples High School.
Last week several girls, who said they were unhappy with the responses they received from the school’s Title IX coordinator, chose that meeting as it was the night the school board was set to approve, which it did, a number of policies, including a policy on sexual harassment and assault.
“Our schools have been extremely progressive (on such issues) … to make sure every single student is safe,” Palmer said.
