Supt. Predicts $350K Surplus

Schools Superintendent Ralph Iassogna projected that $350,000 will remain unspent on the June 30 fiscal year end – just less than .005 percent, or 1/2 of 1 percent, of the budget total.

Funds remain largely because Iassogna imposed an “aggressive cost containment program” for two months that ended only recently. He made his remarks Tuesday at the Board of Education's regular meeting.

An elementary teacher at the meeting noted that she and many of her associates were forced to buy classroom use items as basic as paper and printer ink cartridges during the spending freeze.

Iassogna said he will ask the school board to determine how funds should be spent next month, when the administration can provide a more precise estimate of the final amount. He said choices are to buy supplies and other items for program use, return the funds to the General Fund or to do some of each.

Funds approved for one year cannot fund programs in another, so this money cannot be used to rehire teachers or return freshman sports.

During public comment at the beginning of the meeting PTA Council member Vickie Tesoro told the board, “I can't, in good conscience, ask for sports until all our teachers are rehired.”

The superintendent told the board and the perhaps 15 people in attendance that administrators had determined that one teacher will be rehired at the High School, two TAG teachers will be returned and a part time reading teacher will be assigned at .

The final item on the agenda was the presentation of the district's Strategic School Profiles by Curriculum Director Linda Paslov. SSPs are state mandated and prepared by every district and every school in the state every year. They show many school by school performance measures and become the basis for comparisons of schools and districts.

Trumbull is compared to districts in its District Reference Group, 21 districts with similar demographics and student needs that include Fairfield, Monroe, Greenwich, Avon and West Hartford. Results are also compared to state averages.

Trumbull offers its students an outstanding education, as most standardized test scores and economic measures place the town above the DRG average despite the fact that it’s among the more economical providers of a public education, school officials have said.

But a closer examination points out that this under funding is beginning to show. Without making more resources available the quality of a Trumbull education will slide, many people have pointed out during budget debates.

A few highlights include:

Trumbull students scored well above state averages on the Connecticut Mastery Test and the Connecticut Academic Performance Tests. Both are standardized tests and are part of the No Child Left Behind mandate.

Scores are reported at the Goal level – the middle of three performance categories.

The CMT is administered to all third through eighth graders every year.  Trumbull students attained Goal level in between 70 and 94 percent of the tests, with scores varying by grade and subject.

Trumbull outperformed between 75 and 97 percent of the districts in the state, again, depending on the grade level and subject.

Tenth-grade students also outperformed those in over 83 percent of the state's districts on CAPT in each of the four tests.

Town schools do this even though Trumbull's per pupil expenditure was 95 percent of the average of what other DRG communities spent, and 93 percent of the state average.

And in “Instructional Staff and Services” - teacher salaries, textbooks, software and program materials – the district is at 93 percent of the DRG average and 90 percent of the state average.

Trumbull enjoys elementary school class sizes below DGR and state averages. But middle school and high school classes are larger than both.

Trumbull's teachers are younger than the average of our DRG, yet 87 percent hold masters degrees or above, again, above the DRG and the state averages.

This document shows that schools today offer a far broader range of services than they did even in the recent past. About one quarter of professional staff teaches special education, provides specialized instruction in reading and math - the basic skills CMTs and CAPTs focus on – or are psychologists, social workers and counselors who meet students' non-programmatic needs.

Paslov noted that the district has a low proportion of special ed students compared with its DRG because it employs a Scientific Research Based Intervention model within which it provides specialized services to needier students to help them succeed personally and in school.

Assistant Supt. Gary Cialfi commented that “we see impressive data here.” Board member Tom Kelly said that this is information “taxpayers would like to know."