As rising enrollment in the district drives a proposed $17.1 million expansion and renovation at Saxe Middle School, at least one local elected official is calling for the town to re-examine a longstanding policy of allowing the children who live out-of-town to attend New Canaan Public Schools.
Of the 51 kids who fall into that category now, most are in kindergarten through third grade, and “we are looking at enrollment projections that says it is going to be pretty crowded over there by the time some kids get to Saxe,” Town Councilman Roger Williams said Wednesday.
“If we start seeing 40, 50 kids coming into Saxe across the four grades there that don’t live in the town, and we don’t have enough space for our own kids in town, that’s a discussion as we go through this project and get to the ultimate vote,” Williams said at the Town Council’s regular meeting, held in the Community Room at the New Canaan Nature Center. “At least I, for one, would want to have it publicly heard if we continue that policy or if we charge tuition, and what’s best use of the town’s resources?”
He raises the question as a September vote nears on a plan from a building committee (on which Williams sits) and backed by the Board of Education to renovate the Saxe auditorium, expand performing arts classroom spaces and build a 2-story, 12-classroom addition on the northwest corner of the school. Officials close to the project say it will save time, money and classroom disruption to start the physical work next June.
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told Williams that the younger-aged kids of teachers who don’t live in New Canaan results from the district replacing retiring educators with younger people.
“They have chosen to enroll their children in our system,” the superintendent said. “I think in one way it’s another compliment to the system, but it does have to do with staff that have been here for a while, as they retire and their replacements come in that they are choosing to do that, to enroll their children. We are very careful in making elementary grades about which students go to which schools. We balance it out, so that it does create need for new section and things like that.”
Luizzi added that the language in the policy now has it so that the practice is at the Board of Ed’s discretion.
“If doing so was ever detrimental to the children and citizens of New Canaan,” the board “absolutely” would review the practice, Luizzi said.
Enrollment at the middle school, counting children already in the district, will rise by 52 kids, to 1,344 total this fall (Saxe is built to accommodate 1,200), according to the latest estimates. The figure will rise to about 1,400 by the 2020-21 academic year, consultants say.
Williams said the matter is “worthy of a bigger discussion.”
Luizzi said the district “very carefully” monitors the numbers.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated so that this sentence—”Luizzi added that the language in the policy now has it so that the practice is at the Board of Ed’s discretion”—uses the word ‘policy’ instead of ‘contracts,’ as originally written. Dr. Luizzi’s exact quote, according to our notes, was: “In the policy there is language … that it is possible for nonresident teachers to enroll their own children but it is at the discretion of the Board of Education.”
We need more councilmen like Roger Williams who are willing to ask the unpopular but tough questions on behalf of New Canaan taxpayers.
On the surface it does not seem like a big expense to allow the children of non resident teachers to attend NC schools but in the context of needing to increase the size of Saxe to accommodate a projected larger enrollment, it surely does. Take away 50 students or so and the projections look a bit different.
Glad there is going to be a conversation. Thank you Roger Williams.
Allowing young children to go to school with their parents is a perk that allows us to attract the best talent. Isn’t this what we want? Do we know if these students stay in our system when they get older and don’t need such close supervision at home? Also, I met one teacher who lived in town and she taught at Fox Run, and brought her child to work each day – which meant that at least one of local children who should have been going to our schools was enrolled in the Norwalk school system.
Too bad that a wonderful perk offered to deserving teachers is tied to the cost of building renovations and balancing a budget in an affluent town such as New Canaan.
In light of the recent accolades as to the superlative ratings of our schools in Connecticut, it’s obvious what part our teachers play in these opinions.
It would seem that young educators, at the beginning of their careers, who commute from towns where they can afford to live w/their young families, should be provided with this generous gesture.
With taxes projected to rise 50 % over the next 5 years, affluent or not everything should be on the table. Besides, some of those towns that teachers commute from also have fine school ratings.
I for one would like to better understand the true costs of this “perk”.
Also think that the town’s generous pay scale has something to do with attracting top talent. On the surface it seems like a nice perk to offer teachers but that said, given the high number of these cases it’s also fair for tax payers to ask for a complete understanding of the true costs. We’re about to make a decision on an expensive addition to Saxe based on projected increase in enrollments. Part of this increase is due to the out of town children of teachers. If you took this group out of the projections would we need less new classrooms and teachers?
All I’m saying is let’s understand the real cost of this perk.
What New Canaan pays teachers appears to be very much in line with similar towns, according to a comparison presented by the superintendent of schools in January. See the table “Teacher Salary Comparisons 2014-15” in this article: http://nctest.proxy02.mageenet.net/schools-superintendent-proposes-5-percent-increase-in-spending-20003
New Canaan pays their teachers along the same line as other communities, in fact, slightly less as I recall the budget from 2013. At that time, the BOE moved some teacher’s children to west school, which had much smaller average class size than East and South. As a result of this decision, teachers who worked at east and south had to find ways to get their elementary school children to West School before they themselves reported to work. This was a daunting challenge for many, and I am 100% certain that East School lost some of it’s most beloved teachers as a result.
I believe In looking at every option, but not one that hurts our teachers, rather than help. Do not take away this wonderful perk from the teachers, our track record shows they will move on to more generous communities. If you take away from teachers, ultimately you take away from our great schools and from our children.
Dear All,
I totally agree with Lisa S and Mr. Williams, despite the fact the recent caucus apparently does not agree with all of Mr. Williams’ points.
New Canaan taxpayers pay to have the option of educating their children in the New Canaan Public School System, but we should not be paying for the children of non-taxpayers, including offspring of New Canaan teachers. What is next, an open invitation to the children of every other nonresident public employee? A salary increase for the New Canaan teachers who do not have children in the New Canaan Public School System so that their all-in compensation is up to par with the parents of the 51 nonresident students?
It is time for this “off balance sheet” perk to be eliminated, unless the parents of the 51 students want to pay a fully loaded tuition fee for their nonresident children. For those nonresident teachers who do not pay taxes or tuition, they always can resign if they so choose. Indeed, we may lose a well-loved teacher or two if personal family logistics are an issue, but let us have accountability to taxpayers on the true costs. If there are resignations, I am sure there is no shortage of well qualified teachers who would love to apply to the New Canaan school system with or without their own children enjoying the benefit of a “free tuition perk.” Everyone should not be so free and easy with tax payer money since many do not believe it is necessary to hand out free tuition gifts to attract qualified teachers. We must not sweep controversy under the rug, ignore true costs, or fail to be held accountable please. Stating that this expensive perk is absolutely necessary to attract teachers without the list of credentials of applicants, with and without the offering of such expensive perk, has no apparant basis in fact. Town operations, including education, should be more akin to a business than an open armed charity under the assumption that educating nonresident students is a requirement to get the best teachers. Among other things, New Canaan is a nice place to be for not only for its school system but hopefully prudent, transparent cost controls.
Regards,
Robert C. Young
Agreed. People are very eager to spend the money for an expansion at Saxe without understanding the tax ramifications and for some families another large property tax increase will push them out town. We have been remiss in not looking at the total cost of educating non resident students. At an approximate cost of $1 million per year, we could pay for the Saxe expansion with no additional tax increase in 17 years. Our district is competitive in its pay scale, high parental involvement, and general beautiful surroundings..in other words people WANT to work here.
Couldn’t agree more. There are plenty of teachers who want to work in New Canaan so don’t make it sound like allowing the children of teachers to go to New Canaan schools is necessary to attract top talent. And, frankly, if a teacher leaves because we get rid of this perk, then we can easily replace them. Running the town is running a business, and since using tax dollars is akin to using our dollars, I suggest we think long and hard about enrollment size and classroom size. I still can’t get over how much it will cost to re-do the auditorium at Saxe, but that’s another story.
I made a note of this in the article and on social media, but I want to underscore here that I have replaced the word ‘contracts’ in an indirect quote of Dr. Bryan Luizzi with the word ‘policy,’ which according to my notes is the word he used at this Town Council meeting: “In the policy there is language … that it is possible for nonresident teachers to enroll their own children but it is at the discretion of the Board of Education.” Thank you.
First of all you don’t have the highest paying district . For the last two years the step increase has been frozen which is unbelievable not to get a raise in 2 yrs. I think one of the great things about teaching in New Canaan was that the teachers were able to take their children to school with them . You are talking about 51 students not 150 and you can’t tell me that’s going to make such a difference. Teachers don’t make alot of money and this was a great way to help them . New Canaan always has been known to really appreciate their teachers and it would be wonderful if they still allowed teachers this amazing perk.
As the spouse of a teacher who gets paid a pittance to educate the children of other people, this discussion makes me sick. Shame on some of the commentators here for not recognizing how important it is for a family — which chooses to be on a much lower income because of their passion for education and public service — to be able to put their kids in school with the teaching parent. You act like teacher salaries are fair. Give me a break.