Litchfield school budget left as is

LITCHFIELD – Voters who attended the school district budget deliberative session on Saturday could have altered the proposed $20.53 operating budget, but after close to three hours of discussion, questions and attempts to modify two the four warrant articles that will appear on the March 9 ballot, they agreed to leave well enough alone.

“It’s a really lean budget, and it would make me very nervous to take any more from it,” Superintendent Elaine Cutler told the School Board, Finance Committee, and roughly 100 residents who met in the auditorium at Campbell High School on Saturday.

Cutler said the school district’s budget is “the lowest budget in the region.”

“There are no new programs, no new technology. We’ll live with what we have,” she said, adding that “the most important element” in the town’s three schools are the teachers.

The proposed school district budget decreases operational spending by 1.15 percent over last year, officials said they are expecting to receive 2.3 percent less revenue from state, federal, and other sources.

Cuts made to reduce the budget included $354,694 in services and programs, $80,000 for repair of the high school track, an expense endorsed by the School Board, and a $32,403 reduction in teacher salaries.

In addition to the operating budget, which will be the first of four warrant articles on the ballot in March, officials and voters discussed a proposal, recommended by the School Board, but not the Budget Committee, to raise up to $50,000 and place it in a capital reserve fund, to be used for educating disadvantaged students.

Voters, including Susan Seabrook, the school nurse at the Griffin Memorial School, wanted to know why more money isn’t being proposed for the capital reserve fund, given a leak in the roof at Griffin.

“We’re watching the tiles come down,” Seabrook said after taking her turn at a microphone set up at the front of auditorium to allow for public comments and questions.

Others, including several parents of children who attend the school, said they worried about safety inside the building, given the location of the roof leak.

“It’s very dangerous. That roof needs to be repaired for the safety of the kids,” said Maureen Sherman, an employee at the Griffin School.

“Tiles collapsed in our room and kids could have been hurt. We have a bucket inside and outside the room. It’s very dangerous.”

But when it came to a vote to increase the reserve fund, those attending the deliberative session overwhelmingly rejected it.

There were few, if any questions from voters about increases to the operating budget based on contracts, including health and dental benefits ($345,918) and special education transportation costs ($345,134).

And discussion about Article 2, which asks voters to approve costs for teachers contracts, elicited words of appreciation for the district’s professional staff.

Under a three-year contract between the district and its teachers, which has been ratified, teachers receive no cost of living adjustment for 2009-10 year and the 2010-11 year, and 1 percent for the 2011-12 school year.

The district is also saving more than $58,000 in pharmaceutical reimbursements, part of the health care plan, by requiring enrollees to pay higher co-pays for medication.

Officials said further cuts in the proposed budget are the result of reducing teachers’ work year from 187 to 186 days, and they also noted that under the Evergreen Clause, a state law that took effect in 2008, increases contained in the ratified contract will continue, with or without a contract, when the current accord ends.

The Evergreen Clause does not provide for continuing COLA payments.

During the public meeting, School Board Chairman Dennis Miller, announced that a search for a new superintendent of schools had been halted after two of three finalists withdrew their applications.

Afterward, Dr. Elaine Cutler, the current superintendent agreed to rescind her resignation, Miller said, drawing loud cheers and applause from the audience.

Hattie Bernstein can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 24 or hbernstein@cabinet.com.