Politics & Government

Board of Education Adopts Budget

Narrows increase to 3.55 percent, but members say they need to do what's right for students.

The Farmington Board of Education came back to the table Wednesday and adopted its budget of $55,894,056, which is a 3.55 percent increase over last year. The board retained the first year of a two-phase restoration of Latin and the equivalent of 9.9 fulltime teaching positions. 

Superintendent Kathleen Greider presented her budget of $56,088,475 and a 3.91 percent increase on Saturday during the board’s opening budget workshop. The board met Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, considering the budget and making changes.

The superintendent made $300,000 in cuts before presenting the budget Saturday and the board then made $200,000 in cuts Tuesday night, before adjourning for the night.

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No further cuts were made to the budget Wednesday.

Chairman Mary Grace Reed opened the meeting saying that she could remember only one other time the board extended budget deliberations into a third day.

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“That speaks to level of challenge you face and to the level of dedication you have,” Reed said.

The challenge is how to begin rebuilding a system that has lost 24 teachers and several programs in the past four years of tight budgets, Reed said. And a negotiated zero percent increase served to make things harder, Bill Beckert said, since the Town Council said Monday it would like to see no more than an increase of between 0 to 2 percent over 2011-2012 in light of the board’s flat salary account.

Before the vote, some members looked for other places to cut but made no motions. Others repeated that there was nowhere else to go.

“We worked really hard when I first got on the board to keep cuts away from students and we don’t do that anymore,” Melanie Meehan said. “Our cuts impact students in what we eliminate, what we don’t have in the budget and what we don’t see because Kathy didn’t bring it to us … I’m comfortable saying yes, pass it along.”

Ellen Siuta agreed.

“We spent a great deal of time in these workshops just coming up with the little that we did and honestly, it was quite intense and it was difficult and I can’t see being here until 11:30 tonight to even hope to get same amount … I have great faith in this community. We have a community of parents that are behind us,” she said.

Parent support could be key in getting the budget passed at the May 3 referendum, as it was last year when a Town Meeting restored cuts made to a failed budget, then saw it pass at a second referendum.

Several Farmington High School students and parents from the advocacy group Farmington Future addressed the board during public comment and offered support.

"We want this to be a rebuilding year," Liz Fitzsimmons said. "This is the year to do it …. don’t forget your job on the Board of Ed is to do what’s best for our kids, for the school system ... We will remember what our job is, that is to get out the vote and to vote on May 3 … We will support you, we will back you 100 percent."

Jon Landry alone voted against the budget.

"We still are experiencing very difficult economic conditions and I feel that a 3.55 percent increase is frankly too high. If you look at surrounding districts, their budgets are coming in at under 2 percent," Landry explained.

The negotiated zero in teachers contracts offers an opportunity to provide residents with financial relief, he said.

"We have continued declining enrollment and a high amount of retirements this year - I feel that we should use this as an opportunity to put forward a budget that maintains the quality of our district, and is one that taxpayers can afford."


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