At their meeting on the 12^th of March, the Finance Committee voted to recommend to the Board of Education the Superintendent's revised budget proposal of 6.39 percent, which is a $730,000 reduction.  This 6.39 percent funding level is consistent with most Connecticut school budget proposals. 

In my Superintendent’s report to the Board of Education at their meeting on the 24^th of March, I will review the proposed 2008-09 budget and the revisions.  The following items will also be included in my presentation:

• Enrollment at MES and GES
• Class Size Guidelines
• The Education Cost Sharing Grant (ECS)
  • How it works,
  • Level of Funding, and
  • The Impact on the Region 15 Budget

Program improvements were reduced by $392,000, as listed below.

Reductions to Superintendent’s Recommendations:

• $135,000 in the Intervention Continuum, which included a 1.0 FTE elementary intervention teacher, a 0.5 FTE SIP tutor, and a 1.0 middle level intervention teacher
• $50,000 in Early Childhood, which included a 0.5 FTE elementary assistant principal
• $60,000 in Class Size support, which included a 1.0 FTE elementary teacher
• $47,000 in support staff to address increased enrollment, which included a 1.0 FTE custodian and a part-time special education aide
• $40,000 in Safety and Infrastructure support, which included two part-time persons - one for maintenance and one for the Information Technology Department
• $60,000 in Mandated Program support, which included a 1.0 FTE Special Education Resource teacher to assist students not achieving Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) at the middle level

Remaining in the Superintendent’s recommendations is a funding level of $327,600 that will support a modest level of improvements, as listed below.

Recommendations Maintained in the Superintendent’s Proposal:

• FTE Intervention teacher to be shared at the middle school level -- No additional cost
• FTE ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) teacher for children on the autism spectrum -- $60,000
• 0.4 FTE Latin, Mandarin, Core English teachers and two assistant coaches -- $80,800
• 0.4 FTE Social Studies and 0.2 FTE Math -- $37,500; and a
  1.0 FTE teacher for MES teacher, which is being supported by a reduction of 1.0 teacher at GES
• 0.4 FTE Guidance, 0.2 FTE ELL teacher, 0.4 FTE K-2 special education teacher -- $48,500
• Part-time traffic control police -- $10,800
• 1.0 FTE special education teacher shared between RMS/MMS and a 1.0 FTE for the In School Suspension program mandated by the State of CT and the U.S. Congress--$90,000

The balance of the reductions, $338,000, comes from the foundation operating budget, as listed below:

• Extending the present bus contract for three years yields a zero increase for 2008-09 — reduce transportation $183,000
• Anticipated savings of new personnel throughout the hiring process --- reduce personnel salary $105,000
• Reduce IT hardware budget by $50,000

I encourage people to contact me regarding any questions they may have about the proposed 2008-09 budget.  Listed below is the link to schedule of Board of Education meetings. 

2006-07 Education Cost Sharing Grant

Schedule of Board of Education Meeting Dates

http://www.region15.org/insidethedistrict.shtml