Board of Ed. Discusses Possible Cuts To Reach 2.49%

Cutting $318,323 from a proposed “austerity” budget won’t be easy.

But it’s what the Board of Selectmen suggested last week with regard to the Board of Education’s proposed budget, cutting it down to 2.49 percent in a non-binding recommendation to the Board of Finance.

Easy or not, school superintendent Deborah Low presented a set of guidelines Monday night to the school board for cutting into what she and others have referred to as a “bare bones” budget, as well as a set of examples for further reductions.

“Tonight we’ve gotten a sense of what the system looks like,” Low said after a school board meeting covering health, math, science and other intricacies of the district. “And it’s important that we’re not too wrapped up in the numbers to remember what these numbers represent.”

But as the Selectmen made clear last week, Ridgefield’s budget doesn’t allow for much leniency this year – the board cut the town’s budget down to 2 percent last Thursday from over 3 percent at the beginning of budget season.

And members of both the Selectmen and the school board have shown concern over further cuts by the Board of Finance, which has the final call on the numbers.

 As far as the school board is concerned, some tough decisions lie ahead.

Low’s examples of possible reductions comprise four categories: raising student fees, raising class sizes, reducing programs and making changes to infrastructure.

The higher fees might include, according to Low’s report, raising parking fees at the high school, charging more for students to play sports at the high school, asking money for participation in clubs at the high school or raising fees at the middle schools.

Class-size changes would affect either first grade students or the large class of eighth graders at Scotts Ridge Middle School to reduce staff.

Programs for possible reduction, according to Low, are technology hardware, software and staffing, curriculum training for staff, transportation to magnet schools or reductions at the elementary level in “special” programs such as art, music, library or physical education.

And reductions to the infrastructure could affect administration or secretarial and paraprofessional support. It could also mean the “pairing” of Barlow Mountain Elementary School and Scotland Elementary School.

It would not, Low emphasized, include the closing of a school next year due to structural and physical limitations.

“You have to do the least amount of damage to the schools,” Board Member Sandi Rose said.

Board Member John Palermo mentioned the energy study to which the town committed $1.5 million this budget cycle, and from which the schools expect to see around $150 thousand in savings, helping to reach the $318,323 number.

“Is it just a little bit off everybody’s plate?” asked Board Member Russell Katz, to general agreement from the board. With about 15 different options on the list, Katz’s suggestion was that they all be cut as little as possible to avoid large cuts to any in particular.

“What we ask for is to have them put it out to a vote,” Board Chair Austin Drukker said, suggesting the Board of Finance bring the decision to a town referendum, to general applause.

It wasn’t until the very end that the president of the teachers’ union Pat Gotimer spoke up, giving way to more applause from the public in attendance:

“We are Ridgefield,” Gotimer said. “It’s not just the members of the Board of Finance here – this is what we want.”