Schools

School Board Sends $36.61 Million Budget to Voters

The District 13 Board of Education approved a 1.42 percent net budget increase on Wednesday night.


The Board of Education voted late Wednesday night to send a $36.61 million school budget to referendum on May 7.

The proposal, a 1.42 percent overall net increase from current school spending, has been reduced from the 4.39 percent increase originally requested by administrators in February.

The decision to send the budget to voters in Durham and Middlefield next month came after a two hour public hearing on the proposal at Coginchaug High School attended by fewer than 100 residents.

The hearing resulted in three changes to the budget, the most significant of which was the decision by the board to include $282,257 in transportation revenues from the state in its 2013-2014 budget proposal.

Although the funding has been eliminated under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed budget, board members appeared cautiously optimistic that legislators in Hartford would restore the money.

"There's no good answer because if it's not in the budget and subsequently gets approved than the mill rates have incorporated the absence of it," said board member Robert Fulton. "On the other hand, if we include it and it doesn't get funded then there's a $282,000 shortfall that we'll have to deal with somehow."

The board also agreed to reinstate a part-time special education position in exchange for a reduction in the department of about $28,000, a decision that came after several members of the public spoke in favor of supporting special education funding.

"It's not only the kind thing to do, but it's the prudent financial thing to do ," said Dr. Mary Beth Ellison, a Durham resident and physician at Yale who specializes in Autism. She said funding early special education programs would prove less costly to the district over the long term.

"There's nobody on this board that wants to reduce the quality of special education services that have been provided to our students. We're very proud of them," Board chairman Kerrie Flanagan agreed.  

Flanagan used the opportunity to point out that while the special education budget is set to increase by 4.6 percent next year, the district projects adding only one additional student to the program.

More than $27 million, or 75 percent of the proposed budget, pays for salaries and benefits. The budget also sets aside money to pay for supplies to support Common Core Standards as well as $225,000 for capital improvements, which includes increased security measures.

Savings have been found in areas such as transportation and energy costs, school officials said.

In one of the evening's more salient moments, a young student from Memorial Middle School urged the district to continue funding technology in the classroom.

"In our class, technology has helped us a lot," he said. "It helps us connect with lots of people around the world, and we don't just get stuck in Durham and Middlefield, Connecticut."

The board stuck with its decision to eliminate a proposed part-time science teacher at the high school — a savings of $15,000 — but agreed to pay about half the cost to an existing staff member to teach the same classes.

Board member Jeremy Renninghoff was the only member to vote against the budget.

The school board will present the 2013-2014 proposal one last time at the district meeting on May 6 at 8 p.m.


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