The Darien Times

More details on what's in the $80.3M school budget

Written by David DesRoches
Friday, February 17, 2012 07:00 AM

Board member Morgan Whittier was the only one to vote against the spending package.

The budget, which the superintendent originally proposed as $80.6 million for 2012-13, would now be a 5.26% increase instead of a 5.6% rise. The total cuts equaled $466,144, but the Board of Ed added $200,000 for special education costs for tuition to other schools, and $40,000 for oil tank repairs and assessment.

Language

The new Spanish language program, at $344,000, was the most contentious topic of discussion. Board members George Reilly, Morgan Whittier and Amy Bell voted against the program. Bell has been against the proposed program from the beginning, and reiterated her concerns that it would not be improved as time passed, as many supporters have hoped.

"There is a theme emerging, and it has me a little concerned," Bell said at the Tuesday meeting. "What I've heard is, 'It's a start, we can start with this and over time we can get there eventually... [and there is] an expectation that things will be enhanced."

Bell said she feared the program would not be improved. "The administration has said the program is appropriately robust," she said.

At the budget committee meeting last Thursday morning, Superintendent Dr. Stephen Falcone addressed this concern.

"If it's not beefy to start with, then we shouldn't do it," Falcone said. "We expect it to be appropriately robust. We don't want kids to pull their hairs out, but we don't go into this saying, 'This is not the best way, we'll just beef it up later.'"

In December, just before the board's vote on languages, Falcone said he was confident in the early language program, but "that's not to say we don't revisit things, that we don't look at things, that we don't modify and adjust as we go through."

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Judith Pandolfo developed the program and has made similar statements. "Start with the program at a certain level," she said in November, "then as time passes, if the community feels they want to have a greater investment in that type of programming then you could possibly increase the amount time or teachers or whatever."

However, board member Clara Sartori vocally opposed the idea that more language was on the table for future discussions. "I would encourage people if this passes, people be supportive of it," Sartori said. "We do hire a team of very expensive administrators who we pay to do this and we have to trust them... I'm not going to support having this become a core part of the program. I support it as is, but not with the thought that it will get bigger later."

Social worker and psychologist

If this budget gets final approval, the schools would also have some help with student crises now that the Board of Ed voted to hire a social worker for the elementary schools and a psychologist for the middle and high schools for $140,000. The board approved these positions unanimously.

While there was little discussion before the budget vote, earlier meetings and hearings addressed these hires at length.

"I have a larger concern," said board member Susan Perticone. "Over the last five years, we added assistant principals to help the principals with special ed and instructional needs, we've added instructional specialists, we've added SRBI, we keep adding, and the feedback we get is these families are struggling. Are we adding to this problem? Are we creating our own problems?"

Board member Morgan Whittier said the schools can only do so much. "Change the parents," he said with laugh.

Many parents supported these hires at the public hearing. Ox Ridge parent Patty McCormick said the world is changing rapidly, and the stressors associated with school pressure are increasing and must be addressed.

"Our children fear falling short of expectations, and of not doing as well as their financially successful parents," McCormick said. "For perhaps the first time in our country's history, our children are legitimately concerned for their future. It's no wonder they are reaching their breaking point."

Two students — high school seniors James Burgoyne and Marguerite Morgan — also urged support for the social worker and psychologist.

"Students need this outlet, so they can make the most out of their education opportunities," James said, noting how a friend is dealing with his parents divorce, which has left him in need of guidance and support. "A school psychologist is a tremendous investment."

Marguerite, a co-chairman of the Youth Asset Team, told the audience about a friend of her's who would have panic attacks because of all the pressure she felt to attend an elite school for athletics.

Whittier commented later that when you hear students standing up and saying they need help, "we've got to listen."

Rugby

Rugby would also be a varsity sport next year if this budget makes it through the next steps. Board members Michael Harmon, Heather Shea and Clara Sartori voted against this measure. Shea and Sartori said they would like to see rugby stay as a club sport for another year.

"We have a lot of stuff going on in this budget this year," Shea said. Board member Jim Plutte disagreed.

"The expense is nominal," Plutte said, adding that Darien's affluence makes the "too expensive" argument moot. Total cost for rugby would be less than $10,000, and includes coaches' salary, transportation, uniforms and equipment.

High school rugby players and their coaches also spoke in support of making rugby a varsity sport at the school budget public hearing. Junior rugby player Geoff Gebauer recalled how the rugby team welcomed him like family.

"I felt no shame in making mistakes," Geoff said, adding that his teammates were quick to help him learn the game. Senior Brian Love noted that rugby is "a sport of hooligans played by gentlemen," and that learning respect and leadership has been a large part of his experience on the team.

The club team has performed well over its five-year existence, having won the past two state championships in its league.

Special education

The elephant in the room continues to be special education costs. The Board of Ed cut $55,420 from various line items, but then added $200,000 with the expectation that more money was needed for out of district tuition. Bell, Ross and Whittier voted against adding the $200,000.

Excess cost reimbursements from the state for per pupil expenses over $70,345 in special education continues fall short of budgeted figures, thus making it difficult for the schools to project revenues. The schools decided to budget $2 million for this revenue item, which is more than $900,000 less than what the schools expect to get back this year. None of the board members were confident in their choice to budget $2 million, but they needed a number and decided to stick with the administration's recommendation.

Conversations about adding $50,000 to the out of district transportation line ended with the board deciding against the measure, with Plutte, Reilly, Bell, Sartori and Ross voting against it.

They also kept the legal secretary at full-time status, so the schools would be better prepared when special education director Robin Pavia retires this year and a new director is hired.

The board discussed the best way to properly fund the special education account, which has gone over budget for the last two years. Whittier said that he trusted in the administration's numbers and that it wasn't the board's duty to add money without the administration's recommendation. Reilly disagreed, saying the board has a duty to do just that, and they were responsible for the budget once it moves to other town boards. Whittier said the Board of Finance includes a contingency fund for excessive special ed expenses, and the Board of Ed should not put more money than is needed into special ed.

Perticone disagreed. Special education spending "is very difficult to manage," she said. "I think we need to have the money here to run the district."

Elementary expense

The board also voted to keep the money in the budget for tables and chairs at the elementary schools, but to cut the per pupil expenses at the elementary level for textbooks and consumables from $75 to $74. This is still a $2 per child increase over the current year. The total cut is $2,333. The largest cut came to retirement spending, which was sliced by $183,000. Technology was also cut by $70,900.

Sarah Schneider Zuro noted at the public hearing that Darien PTOs fund-raise $100 per child for enrichment programs in the elementary school — more than what the schools spend. "We believe that this allocation is a reasonable and fair request," Zuro said, speaking on behalf of elementary school parents.

Other districts spend considerably more than Darien on textbooks and consumables for elementary kids, Zuro noted. Wilton spends $103.50, Ridgefield spends $136 and Westport spends $141, according to Zuro.

Capital expenses

The schools put forward a number of capital expenses, including a new slate roof at the middle school for $750,000; $60,000 to fix the high school tennis courts; curb, sidewalk and blacktop repair at Hindley for $65,000; and new security cameras at the elementary and middle schools for $117,000.

The school budget battle is not yet over. The spending plan will be submitted to the Board of Finance on Tuesday, March 6, and another public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

ddesroches@darientimes.com

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