A Different Kind of Budget

Spending cuts during the last two years have been so great that former “status quo” starting budget has become meaningless, Trumbull Schools Supt. Ralph Iassogna said Tuesday.

He announced a new format whose base is the Initial Core Budget. Added to that will be three elements to accommodate essential catch up funding, new or unaddressed programs and new mandates and requests:

Core Budget – The primary costs of running a school system. The largest single item is salaries and health care costs, which Iassogna noted “will be about 81 percent of the budget,” a typical number for most districts in this area.

This segment also includes transportation, utilities, maintenance and similar items. The Core may comprise 90 percent or more of the total request. Dollars allocated to what students see in the classroom - textbooks, software, supplies - amount to less than five percent of the total.

Restorations – Items deleted from previous budgets, including 1.6 Full Time Equivalent teachers at Trumbull High School, six elementary computer para-professionals, eight interns, two secretaries, a custodian, textbooks and software, professional development and the curriculum writing necessary to return to the five year replacement cycle.

Each is important – the absence of the two secretaries means that two schools are closed to visitors during the lunch hour because no one is available to answer the buzzer.

The lack of computer paras forces classroom teachers whose students are in the computer room to do the para's work of making certain all the computers are working and assist students having computer-related problems.

Curriculum development has fallen so far behind the current policy that the department has discussed extending the cycle, which means not revising curriculum as frequently as has become necessary to comply with increasingly demanding state standards under the No Child Left Behind law.

Established Initiatives – Full/Extended Day Kindergarten, the three year Technology Plan and the 10 year NEASC Accreditation. These have been on the district's agenda in prior years, but have not been acted on.

Full/Extended Day Kindergarten may become a state mandate. Implementing the program in 2012-13 will cost $872,000.  Twelve additional teachers and 23 paras will be required, and new furniture and equipment must be purchased. These items, less a $274,000 savings for not needing noon time buses to bring morning students home and afternoon students to class make up the cost.

The oft cited figure of $296,000 assumes outdated numbers. This figure was shown in the August 2010 report to the board that proposed applying funds saved by eliminating 7.5 teaching positions due to elementary enrollment declines during the last two years to this program. Unfortunately, budget cuts forced these funds to be used elsewhere. In addition, teachers are due a salary increase of 2.5 percent next year, and health insurance premiums are expected to rise another 9 percent.

The district has not addressed the state mandated three-year technology plan in two years due to the economy. The plan requires updating Trumbull's classroom technology, and even though much of the expenditure would be bonded by the town, this issue remains open.

NEASC is the accreditation agency that evaluates our state's schools. THS is due for its review in 2014. Funding on the order of $10,000 to $15,000 must be budgeted to prepare for the assessment.

New Mandates and/or New Requests – Programs or items new to this year's budget, among them the newly mandated Anti-Bullying program, Curriculum Department staffing, seven teachers and two security personnel at THS, and the installation of a new football field and scoreboard at THS.

The Anti-Bullying mandate enacted over the summer requires every high school in the state to have a District Climate Specialist to oversee the program. The program also requires contributions of time from some half dozen staff people in each building to assure that the program is implemented and monitored. Iassogna projected its cost at $150,000 to $200,000.

This program is being piloted in the middle schools and received support from the two staff members leading each.

As the Curriculum department returns to its task, incremental staff is required to reverse the production decline.

Student enrollment continues to grow at THS. Meanwhile, budget cuts forced the elimination of teaching positions, resulting in more students being forced into study halls.

The football field and scoreboard will become a part of the THS renovation program. Both are wear items that periodically require replacement.

Those interested in learning more about the education budget should attend the three Board of Education to be held on Dec. 6, 8 and 13 at which the budget will be presented by the administration to the board. The board will then make its changes and approve a budget it will forward to the First Selectman on Jan. 3, 2012. The budget document will be posted on the district's website prior to the Dec. 6 meeting.