‘We Will Have To Make Some Hard Decisions’: District Officials Address $1 Million Reduction to Budget Request

The Board of Education in proposing its original 2.76 percent operating budget increase already had factored in year-over-year reductions in spending on employee benefits, contracted services and supplies, officials said last week.

Now that the district is faced with, at most, a 1.6 percent operating increase for next year—following a $1 million reduction to its $88.6 million proposal by the Board of Finance—the schools will “have to look at everything,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Bryan Luizzi told members of the Town Council at their March 15 regular meeting.

Since the superintendent’s own original proposed budget increase, the school board went “through the process initially of reducing and making some tough choices about initiatives and programs coming in, so we have to get back to the table and really take a hard look at everything that we have and make some decisions.”

“We will continue to keep an eye on insurance as best we can, but ultimately I will be sitting with the administrative team, we will look at everything with the Board of Education and share with them some options and decisions. It is premature to say specifically ‘this program’ and that program’ but it is going to be our responsibility is to look at it.”

The comments come as the district looks at a $1.38 million increase to its budget—and it may be less, as the Town Council has the ability to reduce it further (though not to add to it)—while it’s contractually required to pay $1.76 million more to employees (mostly teachers).

Councilman John Engel asked Luizzi at the meeting: “Where is this cut going to come from?”

“Do you think that it’s fair to say electives are going to be the first things to look at? You have to get this $1 million from somewhere and it is either in headcount, which would be looking at those full-time equivalents, or are we going to be looking at cutting entire programs—art, music, drama?”

Luizzi responded the figure is more like $500,000 because a $500,000 insurance reserve already had been built into the district’s budget for stabilization.

“When we look at these, we look at the quality of the educational experience that we are providing our students and try to make decisions that don’t diminish the quality of that achievement. So I would certainly not say they will be the first thing look at that have to go. We will be having discussion, as we will discuss all pieces of program, really, [kindergarten] through [12^th grade]. First we want to get a handle on what we are talking about, what that amount truly is, which we won’t know until we have a handle on the retirements and what funding can be shifted over for some savings there. But we will work hard to maintain the quality of the instructional program. That is our responsibility and our job. But we will have to make some hard decisions.”

Councilmen also asked Luizzi whether he “lost” six planned additional positions in going from his own proposed budget to the 2.76 percent increase brought forward by the school board (no), when district employee contracts are up for renewal (negotiations are underway now with food services, paraprofessionals and secretaries, and administrators, teachers and custodians come up within the next three years) and whether the schools could find savings in its capital budget instead of operating (no, savings in the operating budget must come from that side).

Engel said that, long-term, the town and district must look more closely at cost-savings and asked whether, to this point, the schools have “realized any gains” in terms of personnel and purchasing power.

Luizzi responded that the town and district “cooperate in many ways” and that savings already have been had in technology and support, as well as through some shared services.

However, in terms of personnel, consolidation would assume “either a duplication of efforts or an excess of capacity,” Luizzi said.

“They do not exist,” he said.