Ellington Budget Hearings: Round Three, the Schools

The Ellington Board of Finance wrapped up its budget presentations earlier this week when members heard from the Board of Education about its proposed $30.4 million budget for the 2011-2012 year. 

As he did before the two previously held budget meetings with selectmen and various town departments, finance board Chairman Robert Clements reminded the group that “it’s going to be a rough budget year” and wished them luck.

To answer, school board Chairman Dan Keune said, “we’ve gone through the difficult days the best we can.” 

Keune quickly discussed how he believes both boards have the same goal – to do what’s best for the students in town - before turning the floor over to Superintendent of Schools Stephen Cullinan.  

Using a Power Point presentation to illustrate the budget, which is 3 percent more than the current year, Cullinan said that little has been altered since the school board approved its budget in January. One minor change is the data the school district received in the revised Strategic School Profile, which had just been completed last week. 

Overall, class size and population growth are major concerns for the Board of Education in the coming year, as well as properly staffing those continuously booming schools.

“We’re being stretched,” Cullinan said.

As with each year, a significant portion of the budget is used to pay school district employees’ salaries, particularly the teaching staff. However, there are seven other factors that are driving the proposed budget, Cullinan said.

Salaries increased by approximately 2.5 percent, or $708,472. Included in that funding is money from the federal Jobs in Education Fund grant, as well as the Open Choice Special Education Tuition, which, for the time being, provides extra money to the school system to use for classroom aids. 

Health and life insurance increased by about 2 percent, which Cullinan said was “basically good news.”  Anthem is the current provider, but there is one other serious bidder at this point, the superintendent said. By putting the medical insurance out to bid the school district may be able to reduce its insurance costs.

Other significant items in the budget include funding for regular and special education student transportation, equipment, program supplies, student services and regular outside tuition. Cullinan explained that regular outside tuition includes sending students from town to magnet schools, in addition to money for some preschool-aged students. The town does not offer preschool to every three and four year old in town because only a limited number of children are allowed to enroll in the program.

Something that the school district will continue to monitor closely in the coming years is the enrollment increase. Overall, Ellington schools have increased in class sizes due to the amount of new students coming into the district. According to recently released census data, Ellington is one of the fastest growing towns in the region and one where it’s school district has continued to grow in size, not shrink.

Class size projections for the 2011-12 school year are based on current student enrollment, and the possibility that the federal Jobs in Education Fund grant will enable the district to hire new teachers or aids; without the extra teacher, class sizes with continue to increase, Cullinan said. 

At the moment, Cullinan said the number of students in many of the classrooms “unacceptable.”  He commented on putting a “no vacancy sign” out in town, but instead, the population continues to skyrocket. The school board recently declined a request from the Hartford Public School district to accept more Hartford school choice students because the Ellington school district is at or near capacity in many of its grades.

The last piece of the budget presentation dealt with how much the school districts spends per student. Overall, Ellington spends far less per student than almost every other town in Connecticut, Cullinan said. Out of the 166 communities included on the list of cost per pupil, Ellington is second to last, he said.

Clements, he finance board chairman, assured the school officials that the students in town were not getting “cheated” out of a quality education because they spend less money on each student. 

Clements responded to Cullinan’s presentation by saying, “This school system is getting more bang for the buck than the others.” 

He commended the Board of Education for putting together a solid and manageable budget. 

“The only reason to go after your budget is if we’re backed up against the wall,” Clements said, adding “ we’re big believers in education, and we hate to see big cuts in education.”

The public will have a chance to comment on the overall $47.63 million proposed budget, including that of the schools, town government and various departments, at a hearing scheduled for April 12 at 8 p.m. at Ellington High School on Maple Street.