School Board Budget Called Both Reasonable and Unreasonable at Public Hearing

Of the fewer than 10 people who addressed the West Hartford Board of Education at a public hearing on the budget Wednesday night, some felt the $133.78 million proposal for 2011-12 was too high and others worried that it barely maintained this year's level of service.

The proposed budget clocks in at a 5.6% increase over last year, even with a hard wage freeze accepted by the teachers union. School administrators, however, have said that the budget plan actually represents a 3% increase because of an accounting anomaly that occurs when state funding replaces some of the federal funds that have been lost.

Administrators also attribute most of the 3% boost to increasing medical claims, which are expected to rise 15.8% next year to about $24 million.

During the public comment session, several speakers said they supported the budget and its efforts to maintain services during recessionary times.

Mary Fleischli said the budget made no material program changes and should be supported.

"The only way around this increase is to make substantial cuts," she said.

Speaker Michael Cass said he was impressed by how the town had managed its operations through "this horrendous recession." Cass said he was worried, though, that too many school maintenance projects had been put off.

"The deferred maintenance in some of the buildings is getting to the point where I'm frankly concerned about it," he said.

Another speaker, Minou Roufail, said she couldn't believe anyone could contest the budget plan.

"I was curious about what the taxpayers association would complain about this year since their whipping boy has taken a pay freeze," she said, in reference to the teachers' union.

Kathy Wilson spoke specifically about the addition of two reading specialists in the proposed budget who would be split among schools and asked if they would be deployed to address the town's significant achievement gap. Wilson said the town needed to address the relatively weak performance of students who receive free and reduced-price lunch, particularly in reading.

Critics of the budget increase had their say as well.

"Asking for more and more money from the taxpayers is easy," said John Joyce. "Leadership and creativity are not."

George Kennedy told the board that it should not increase spending and complained that the West Hartford Taxpayers Association's suggestions for cuts were ignored last year.

"Now your budget decision is the usual one," he said. "You force us to petition the town for a zero percent tax increase."

After the public had its say, Board Chairwoman Clare Kindall said it troubled her than the town was in a "holding pattern" and that she hoped there were "sunnier days ahead" that would allow the school system to plan new initiatives.

Residents interested in commenting on the budget can click on this link for the electronic suggestion box on the town's website or send an email to budget@whps.org.