Schools

West Hartford Board of Education Approves Superintendent's Proposed Budget

Budget increase is less than 1 percent.

The West Hartford Board of Education unanimously approved Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen List's proposed 2013-2014 budget Tuesday night without making any changes.

The $140,055,899 budget that List proposed on March 5 represents an increase of only 0.93 percent ($1,286,671) over the 2012-2013 West Hartford Public Schools budget of $138,769,229. The less than 1 percent increase is "the lowest increase in over 30 years," List said.

"This is such an anomalous year," said Board member Terry Schmitt, asking that the budget come to an immediate vote without a lengthy discussion. "I think its a very responsible budget and I think we should be supporting it," he said.

Mark Zydanowicz, one of two Republicans on the Board, also supported the proposed budget. However, he asked that both the Board and the administration "work diligently over the next 12 months" on next year's budget. "An increase, no matter how small, still moves the tax needle," he said.

Zydanowicz said it is very important to look forward responsibly, to "sharpen the pencil" and not become complacent, especially as expenses for the new Charter Oak International Academy project begin to have an impact.

Zydanowicz mentioned that he was pleased to have just received an email indicating that the claw-back provision, which potentially could have increased the town's costs associated with the Charter Oak project if enrollment projections are not met, is not part of the agreement for the grant funding.

The following message, written by Town Manager Ron Van Winkle in an email to Town Council members late Tuesday afternoon, was sent to Zydanowicz and forwarded to Patch: "In the past the State had a process to request that community that received a school construction grant return a portion of that grant to the State, if they did not make their projected enrollment levels. We have been able to confirm with the State Department of Construction Services that that provision is no longer in affect. They recently changed their process to eliminate that claw-back provision."

Jay Sarzen, the other Republican on the Board, also voted in favor of the budget but said he thought the district "got lucky" regarding the lower-than-expected health care claims. "I will beseech this Board, the administration, for next year, let's dig deep," he said.

Naogan Ma said it's great to think about digging deeper and thinking "out of the box," but she doesn't know how teachers would be able to do the kind of work they do with a smaller budget.

Before he put the budget to a vote, Board Chairman Bruce Putterman praised the Board for adhering to its principles – not adding extras in good years and not slashing critical programs in more difficult years. 

If additional savings are to be found in the future, Putterman said the challenge will be to identify the specifics.

“We have 10 months before the next budget. Let’s identify things in the next 10 months and let’s be accountable for what we want to cut,” he said.

The proposed West Hartford Public Schools budget passed 7-0. The Town Council is scheduled to vote on the overall budget on April 23.


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