Saying New Canaan public schools already are slated to get far less taxpayer money than originally requested, Board of Education members and parents pleaded with the town Wednesday to avoid scaling back next year’s allocation any further.
Calling some of the reductions “arbitrary,” Board of Education member Scott Gress said during a Town Council meeting that a look at taxpayer spending reveals a change in how New Canaan prioritizes its schools.
“During the past decade, the Board of Education has been asked by the town’s governing bodies to accept reductions in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and find a way to continue to provide an exemplary education to the children of this town,” Gress said during the meeting, held in the New Canaan Nature Center’s Visitors Center.
“And I’m happy to report that through some really good stewardship, I feel we’ve done this. However, our ability to continue to do so with these draconian cuts is doubtful. I only bring this to everyone’s attention by way of asking: Was this intentional? Is this the intended direction of our future. And if so, it represents a fundamental change in the priorities as I’ve known them over my life in this town.”
The comments come one week before the council votes April 9 on the fiscal year 2015 budget. As approved by the Board of Finance, that’s $138.4 million in total spending, a 4.82 percent increase over the current year.
Within that big number, the school district is among the town-supported agencies that have seen its proposed operating budget, especially, reduced. Specifically, the Board of Education originally had requested $83.3 million—a nearly 7 percent year-over-year increase—and is now looking at about $80.8 million, a 3.8 year-over-year increase.
Board of Ed Chair Hazel Hobbs at an April 2 Town Council meeting, held at the New Canaan Nature Center's Visitors Center.
School board Chair Hazel Hobbs echoed sentiments of Gress and others in requesting that the council not further reduce what the finance board already brought down.
“As you know our requested increase was minimal, only addressing important needs,” Hobbs said. “Even with this small increase, we have already sustained significant reductions that will have to be taken from our budget. I realize that you cannot add back money that already has been cut. I would respectfully ask you to please not cut any more. Our staffing is reasonable and basic to what we value in education.”
Hobbs added that the district’s needs include fixing—eventually completely renovating—the Saxe Middle School auditorium and upgrading the schools’ network to improve classroom use of technology. Those were sentiments echoed by others at the meeting, including the heads of parent groups at East and Saxe.
Town Council members discussed one request for $200,000 to kickstart long-awaited capital improvements at the Saxe auditorium. No one disagrees that the work should be done. Council member Roger Williams cautioned against spending the money without first seeing a building committee formed.
Council member John Engel said the town should spend the $200,000 to show its commitment and match the momentum of the parents’ group at Saxe.
“I think it would be horrible to push it back one more year,” Engel said. He suggested setting goals and deadlines for the district, such as forming a town building committee and nonprofit foundation for fundraising by certain dates.
The final budget meeting, with the vote, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. April 9 in the New Canaan Nature Center.