Nearly Flat Budget Proposed for Schools

In a brief school board meeting on Tuesday night, Superintendent Michael Frechette presented his recommendations for a $68,033,807 budget for the 2010-2011 school year (available on the web).

Describing it as the "lowest budget I've ever put together", Frechette proposed a slim 1.28% increase over the current year, or $859,520 more in expenses, while keeping all existing staff and programs. Typically, a budget would include a higher percentage increase even if it did not add any new programs, because of contracted raises for staff. Frechette repeatedly pointed to the cooperation of the teachers union in achieving such a small increase, noting that everyone is aware of the tough budget conditions at both the city and state levels.

He also said that he is hopeful that the 1.28% increase will be even lower when the ongoing negotiations are completed with Local 466 and the paraprofessionals union. As the school budget is 75% personnel costs, the outcome of the four relevant union contracts is the main factor in any budget proposal. Contracts have already been completed with the administrators and teachers unions, and each contains 0% increase in salaries and no step increase. For budgeting purposes, the superintendent's proposal contains projections of 2.5% increases for the remaining two unions, until the final numbers have been agreed upon.

The recent work of the district's new business manager, Nancy Haynes, working with Associate Superinendent Barbara Senges, has led to a number of changes in how the budget is reported. There are a number of lateral transfers of costs from one category to another. For example, the $97,000 which historically was recorded in the transportation line is now more accurately reported under the professional services line, since it represents the now outsourced EMT costs for medically fragile students during their commute to school.

Going forward, this sort of change will be a positive thing for understanding the district's budget. This year, however, it means that those who truly wish to compare apples to apples will have to dig a little deeper to understand if a budget category actually went up or down. In the above example, you can see the professional services line go up, but it's a little harder to see the impact of the removal of those funds from the transportation line, which also encompasses a 3rd year increase in a 5-year contract with Dattco, and some other adjustments.

The Superintendent highlighted the following points of interest in his budget proposal:

• the supplies and materials category of the budget has a slight reduction because of utility savings and holding the line on various teaching supplies at 2007-08 levels of funding (questions from board member Renee Johnson-Thornton at the last board meeting brought out that some of these costs have been absorbed by grants in recent years - the administration represented that students are not being denied materials through this tight budgeting.)

• the figures for some staff benefits are set by the City's risk manager, such as dental benefits and life insurance for all staff, and health insurance for classified staff. These figures may be revised in the coming months.

• unlike Middletown, many other school districts around the state are facing staff layoffs and "pay to play" systems for extras, or cuts in foreign language offerings.

Frechette wrapped up the budget proposal saying "I think that folks should be pleased about having these programs continue next year."

The board also discussed the potential that the Common Council might not accept the 1.28% increase. In a recent meeting with Jay Keiser, budget committee chair, and the Mayor and a few council members, it seemed that there is some resistance to anything higher than a 0% increase. But Frechette held out hope that the union negotiations and other possible savings might get the budget closer to 0% without affecting the classroom.

The next steps for the budget process include a January 12th special board meeting on the budget. The board may vote on a proposal on that date, or may wait until their January 26th meeting. Board members were assured that there will be additional opportunities to amend the budget going forward, as proposals for the possible redistricting or solutions to Middletown's racial imbalance may change how funds are spent. After the Board votes on their proposal, the Mayor proposes his budget, which includes a line item for the total school budget. Ultimately, in late Spring, it's up to the Common Council to review the amount that the state is willing to contribute through Educational Cost Sharing (ECS), and then to approve the final budget that the school district will have for the July 1st fiscal year.

Taking a moment to look ahead, the Superintendent raised the issue that next year's budget process for the 2011-12 school year will potentially be much more challenging, as $4 million of the current budget is targeted for withdrawl. Those funds are currently stimulus grants, either processed through the state as ECS or coming to Middletown for specific special services. Without a new stimulus program, we can expect to start that school budget from a $4 million hole.

One last bit of commentary:
At this stage of the game, the Superintendent's budget proposal is a condensed document, and it's very useful for understanding the big picture of what it costs to educate our roughly 5,200 public school students, and how spending would change from the current year. But this document is not designed to give you a detailed description of what each line in the budget actually pays for. In the case of transportation, how many students are traveling how many miles on how many buses for a total of $5,531,726? How many of the 360 certified teacher, tutor and substitute positions are at what level of salary/seniority in the $24,348,617 line item? Interesting math problems for middle schoolers, or school board members who take their fiscal responsibility seriously as the budget season moves forward.