Superintendent Reluctantly Identifies Places to Cut Education Budget

To reduce the Board of Education’s 2012-2013 proposed budget to the $55,462,700 allocated by the Town Council, Superintendent Kathleen Greider gave the board a list of recommendations.

“Unfortunately since I’ve arrived [in Farmington], I’ve become accustomed to this unfortunate process… I’ve put reductions up there, none of which I would recommend,” Greider said. “We have suffered significantly over the last four years as a school district.”

The past four years saw reductions in programs and teaching positions and little progress on the district’s technology plan. The board had designated 2012-2013 a rebuilding year, when a negotiated salary freeze with the teachers union would free up more of the district’s budget.

The board passed on a budget with a 3.55 percent increase over the current  year, and the council sent it back with more than $430,000 less.

To make up the difference, Greider recommended reductions in three tiers. Tier 1 has the least impact on students and Tier 3 the most:

Level 1: Least Significant Impact ($187,000)

• Technology: $80,000
• Special education tuition: $77,000
• Curriculum budget: $30,000

Level 2: Significant Impact: ($107,000)

• Equipment repairs: $40,000
• Summer school: $15,000
• Summer custodians: $12,000
• Substitutes: $40,000

Level 3: impacts programs and services to students ($137,347)

• IAR Latin: $44,745
• .5 FHS science teacher: $28,000
• .5 reading recovery position: $27,000
• .5 unassigned teacher: $28,000
• IAR Friday late bus: $9,602

The board was not receptive to any of the cuts, particularly the Tier 3 recommendations, made up of small sums chipping away at plans for rebuilding, including Latin at Irving A. Robbins Middle School and .5 positions in science and reading to prepare for curriculum changes.

“We’re at a point where any cut I bring to you has major implications for students,” Greider said. “It’s difficult to find $430,000. It’s a large number and where you find that is staffing… these are all positions we’re trying to add back this year."

For each cut there was an objection.

The additional reading recovery staff, added into the 2012-2013 budget at the equivalent of 1.5 fulltime positions, would work with students, doing interventions, but also would work with teachers in preparation for the state-mandated shift to the more rigorous Common Core State Standards, which Greider said would require teachers to teach in a very different way.

The .5 position for science would have an impact on class size and programming, as the district prepares for a new science curriculum, also state mandated.

Those middle school students who ride the late bus, Chairman Mary Grace Reed explained, have no other way to get home and so will likely miss out on afterschool activities at a point when the school hopes to get them more involved.

“It’s such a small number with a huge impact,” objected Jon Landry. “I would just hope we could look elsewhere.”

At every point, board members hoped to look elsewhere, though few alternatives were raised at the table. The board decided to explore three options: charging the Extended Care and Learning Program rent for building use, underfunding the self-insurance fund and freezing nonessential accounts for the rest of 2011-2012 to prepurchase technology.

The board will meet again Monday, April 2 at 7 p.m. in the Library. If those options fail, board members generally agreed to follow the superintendent’s recommendations.