Board of Education Starts Drafting Budget

The Board of Education passed their list of budget assumptions and priorities for 2010-2011 last week. Monday night they took their first hack at formulating the operating budget itself.

As usual the priorities underscore the board's desire to provide opportunities for all New Canaan's public school students to perform well on state and national tests and engage in co-curricular activities like athletics, arts, and academic teams. Keeping up with the times through technology upgrades and curriculum updates is also a guiding principle.

On the wish list going into Monday's meeting was the addition of another guidance counselor to bring New Canaan High School into line with the student-counselor ratios in the district reference group that includes Darien, Ridgefield and Wilton.

The board also wants to move ahead with phase three of the Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools program by adding two more world language teachers and the purchase of new course materials.

But given the economic conditions, the board is not envisioning a big overall increase in spending. Board of Education Chair Nick Williams says the days of double-digit increases year over year are long gone. Last year, the budget only increased 2.5 percent, compared to 12 percent from 2001-2002 to 2002-2003. And that 2.5 percent included a 5.3 percent increase in salaries, meaning deep cuts elsewhere in the budget and a handful of layoffs, which contributed to a worrisome number of class sections over district size guidelines.

Williams is optimistic the new teachers contract, which he called an "excellent deal", will help relieve some of the pressure this time around—the contract calls for just a 2 percent increase in salaries for the 2011-2012 school year. The contract also shifts some non-classroom duties to teachers, which will make it easier to cut a few educational aide positions; Williams expects up to $200,000 in savings to be achieved by such staff reductions.

The board's budget priorities again aim to keep any cuts as far away from the classroom as possible overall by looking for savings in the costs of mailings to parents, for example, and exploring new public-private partnerships.