Superintendent's Blog

RTM Decision on Budget…then BOE will adjust

Dr. David Title — Tue, 08 May 2012 19:50:24 +0000

Many citizens came to the Fairfield Warde High School large gym to witness the final action by the RTM on our budget last night. In the end the RTM cut an additional $250,000 from our budget, a far cry from the nearly $3 million cut proposed by some members at the previous week’s meeting. This is good news for the school system.

I believe we can make this cut without impacting programs, services or staff. I will be working with my administrative team to come up with a list of proposed cuts for the Board of Education to consider at its May 22 meeting. When the list is ready, we will post it on our website in the Budget section. The Board may or may not agree with my proposed cuts but, unlike last year when we made $2.8 million worth of cuts, the impact here will be minimal. No proposals will be put forward at tonight’s BOE meeting.

The RTM needs to finish the rest of the budget tonight and will be doing so at the same time as the BOE meeting. The Board meets at Fairfield Ludlowe High School because we are doing student awards and the RTM will meet at Warde again.

Budget Statement

Dr. David Title — Fri, 04 May 2012 14:40:43 +0000

By now I’m sure you’ve seen the media reports about the proposed cut to the Board of Education operating budget for next year. The RTM will decide this matter this Monday, May 7. The meeting will be held at the Fairfield Warde High School large gym due to the expected large crowd. People have asked me what I feel the impact would be of such a large cut. The Fairfield Citizen asked the same question. I wrote a letter to the PTA Council that also outlines my concerns. Here is my full response to Fairfield Citizen:

To reach the approximately $3 million cut, as we did last year, we would expect that approximately 80 percent of this cut would be in personnel/staffing. To reach a cut of approximately $2.4 million in staffing (along with a $600,000 cut in non-personnel areas), we would need to eliminate approximately 25 to 30 certified positions (those holding teacher certification) and approximately 10 to 20 non-certified positions. While I cannot state exactly what programs or services would be cut or reduced, I can say that this reduction would significantly degrade the quality of in the educational program for the Fairfield Public Schools, especially because our enrollment continues to grow. We absorbed a similar-size cut this current year and the impact is being felt throughout the system, K-12, with reductions in curricular and co-curricular areas. Because our requested increase of 2.4 percent is virtually all because of enrollment growth and contractual increases, all of the $3 million reduction would result in a reduction in programs and services.

Budget Update

Dr. David Title — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 21:22:44 +0000

We finished our first week back from vacation with the RTM Committee meetings. The next stop is the full RTM, which meets next Monday night, April 30, at 8:00 pm at the Board of Education offices. Do not expect any discussion of the BOE budget right away as the RTM has a few other items to discuss. Two town agencies have appealed their cuts from the Board of Finance to the RTM (time to read up on your Town Charter if you haven’t done so for a while), and those appeals are heard first. (The agenda is on the Town’s website. Go to Agenda and Minutes, then under the drop-down menu, pick RTM, then pick 2012 Agendas.)

After we had our the large group Q & A with the RTM on April 9, the five RTM committees were given the option of having us back for more discussion this week. Two committees met on Monday night and had no further questions. Wednesday night we have 3 committees and we attended all of them — we started at Ed & Leisure at 7 pm and finished with Public Health around 9:45 pm, with Legislative and Administration in between. All of the sessions were respectful and cordial. I truly believe the RTM (and others) believe that the BOE is presenting a responsible budget. What that means at the end of the day is still unknown, but it is a whole different tone from last year. The process, as organized this year by moderator Jeff Steele, is, in my view, a huge improvement over my experience here last year, where we were talking to committees deep into the night.

On Monday, there could be further Q & A on the BOE budget, and members must make their intentions known about potential cuts to anyone’s budget. There also should be public comment. At Wednesday’s committee meetings, only one (Public Health) had public comment and three parents spoke on behalf of the BOE budget (no one spoke in favor of cutting it).

I appreciate the hearty group of parents who came to the committee meetings, marched up and down the stairs at Sullivan Independence Hall, sat among the recycling bins in the basement, and who reminded me of a golf gallery following a foursome at a tournament.

Final decision should be on Monday, May 7.

Catching up before vacation

Dr. David Title — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:44:25 +0000

I have been meaning to write about an author’s’ visit I attended a couple of weeks ago that was truly inspirational. As part of “One Book, One Town,” sponsored by the Fairfield Public Library, the author of a book/long poem on the Titanic spoke to our community. I saw him in action with adults and with children and he was marvelous. Allan Wolf, author of “The Watch That Ends the Night,” came to Fairfield. If you haven’t read the book, do yourself a favor and read it. Remember it’s being written by a poet, not a historian. One tidbit: at lunch I asked him if he threw away a lot of material from the book before it was printed, and he told me that he had written over 150 pages about the adventures of the rats on the ship and it all got cut. (He does give one rat a part in the book.) I told him he needed to dig that up and issue it the way we get “bonus material” when we buy a movie on DVD after it’s been in theaters. (He laughed.)

We’re having an April vacation next week. That statement may seem rather bland until you really that the chances of this vacation being retained in its entirety were slim and none after the Halloween Snowstorm and Hurricane Irene. For this full vacation to happen, we needed to go the entire winter with no more than one snow day cancellation. What happened? We had the first snowless winter on record, with the only significant accumulation occurring on a Saturday morning. Hence, a full April vacation.

In related news — high school graduations are now officially set for Thursday, June 21. The Board of Education set these dates at Tuesday’s meeting. This means that, even if there were some freak cancellation of school between now and then, high school graduations can occur on this date. (Any cancelled days would still need to be made up, sorry.)

We had a productive (and relatively short) meeting with many of the RTM members on our budget on Monday night. I did a presentation (it’s on our website under Budget) and then answered questions for about 90 minutes. Next up are committee meetings on April 23 and April 25. It’s not clear what the format will be at those sessions, or if public comment will be taken. Jeff Steele, RTM moderator, told the group on Monday that the best date and time for public comment on the budget will be the full RTM meeting on Monday, April 30 (8:00 pm, BOE offices). Individual committee chairmen may allow public comment at their committee meetings but it’s not a sure thing.

We’re piloting new Report Cards (Progress Reports) at the elementary level for implementation next year. We are looking for parent input. Elementary parents have a choice of 3 dates to attend meetings on the new system. We also have the drafts up on the website and a link for folks to give input. You don’t have to go to a meeting to give your input.

Keep your eyes on Hartford over the next few weeks. A massive reform bill (Senate Bill 24) was proposed by the governor and is now being worked on by the legislature. If you’re not up to speed on it, just Google “Senate Bill 24″ and you’ll have plenty of reading material!

I will be on vacation next week. Next blog entry will be the week of April 23.

Budget now goes to the RTM

Dr. David Title — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 20:35:34 +0000

Last week the Board of Finance restored the $250,000 reduction made to the Board of Education budget by the Board of Selectmen. The Board of Finance also decided to fund all pension accounts at a higher level than the Selectmen, which added funds back into our budget (I am leaving the details out about this because it has no impact on our educational program). The important news is that the Board of Finance restored the $250,000. I should point out that this motion to restore was originally made by the First Selectman himself. He stated to the Board of Finance that the Town’s finances for the current fiscal year were healthier than he had originally known; as a result, he could recommend the restoration to the Board of Education budget and offset that increase with a lower level of contribution to the Town’s surplus account.

Several members of the Board of Finance publicly stated that they were very pleased with the Board of Education’s budget proposal. One stated that it is the lowest request by a Board of Education in Fairfield in 50 years. (The Board’s original request was 2.60 percent.) The Finance Board overwhelmingly approved the restoration of the cut.

For all intents and purposes, then, the Board of Education budget is completely intact from its starting point. The last hurdle is the Representative Town Meeting. The first RTM meeting on the Board of Education budget will be this coming Monday (April 9) at 7:00 pm at McKinley School in the cafeteria. All RTM members are invited to attend. After I make a presentation, RTM members will be invited to ask questions. It is scheduled to end no later than 10:00 pm. This session is open to the public but I do not believe that public comment will be part of the agenda. This is a new part of the RTM approval process.

The RTM committees will still meet as I mentioned in my previous post (April 23 and 25); the full RTM meets on April 30 and May 7.