That pretty much sums up the Hamden 2008 budget season.
We've barely passed the election and already we're talking budgets?
Even though the actual debate and passage of our Board of Ed and town budgets are months away, it's never too early to start letting parents/taxpayers know that their input is crucial to the process.
I attended the PTA meeting at Spring Glen this evening, and by chance, found that they had invited their BOE rep, John Keegan, and Town Council Education Chair, Jim Pascerella, to walk their group through the budgeting process and how and when the PTA could / should contribute.
Here's the timeline:
November - December - Principals, department heads, other develop and submit budget requests to Superintendent
January - Superintendent presents recommended budget to BOE
January - February -
a) Finance Committee deliberates/finalizes budget request
b) Public hearing on proposed budget
c) Board deliberates / approves final budget request
March - Board approved budget submitted to Mayor; budget becomes line item in Mayor's budget submitted to Town Council
April - May - Town Council deliberates and holds public hearings
May 15 - Deadline for Town Council to approve Mayor's budget
June - Council approved budget amount returns to BOE; BOE makes final adjustments
July - New budget year begins
How to contribute:
I would recommend attending at least one preliminary BOE general or finance meeting to get an idea of what plans the Superintendent has for our district and how we pay for those plans. If there are items/issues that you want to be sure are included, attend public sessions and/or contact the BOE representatives and let your voice be heard. I would expect Fran will want to make the rounds to PTAs or at least to the PTA Council as well.
When the budget has reached the Mayor's office, let him know how you feel about the budget.
Perhaps the most critical step is being part of the citizenry that stands in support of the BOE line of the town budget. Attend the public hearings that will be held in April and May. (more info at the bottom of this article).
Here's the rock:
At Tuesday's BOE meeting, the Board and the Teachers' Union tentatively agreed on contract that includes a 2% increase. That's just one of many unions (custodians, fire, police, administrative) that will have a contractual increase.
The utilities - electricity, fuel, telephone - will all be going up, as well as health insurance.
The budget has to rise, even if we don't spend on anything new.
Here's the hard place:
Where does that money come from? The voters sent a clear message to Mayor Henrici and the Town Council with their close win that balancing the budget on the backs of personal property owners is unacceptable.
Perhaps the rest of this legislative session will see our state lawmakers make progress with true tax reform that would change this imbalance. Write or call your reps and ask them.
In the meantime, the state budget passed in May 2007 covers expenditures through June 2009, so we're not likely to see any additional funds not already allocated to Hamden or our school system.
I don't know where the money comes from, but somewhere besides the taxpayers would be welcome.
However I am hopeful that the BOE will get the funding to at least maintain the status quo for the following reasons:
1. Fran Rabinowitz, our new superintendent, has dealt with budgets bigger than ours in harder times than ours. She has the wisdom and experience to make informed choices and recommendations that have the best interest of our children at heart.
2. Ed Sullivan, chair of the BOE Finance Committee, is a true fiscal conservative and has a mantra that I have heard other board members repeat:"If you put something, you have to take something out." He is a fair and compassionate man who does the right thing for the right reasons.
3. We have many Town Council members (and a Mayor) who understand the value of investing in our school system, especially Jim Pascerlla (a board member of the Hamden Education Foundation) and Al Gorman, a former teacher.
4. We have active and attentive PTAs who will educate and encourage their parents, students and school's staff to speak in support of a BOE budget that at least maintains the status quo.
Parent and student involvement is truly key. At the meeting tonight Jim Pascerella recounted last year's Town Council BOE budget public hearing. The Talented And Gifted program (TAG) was rumored to be on the chopping block. A large number of TAG students spoke on behalf of themselves, their friends and their program. They pleaded with the Council to not cut their program because of all the good that it brought to their lives and to the town. That civic action changed a few minds on the council and the current budget was ultimately passed, without cutting TAG.
Jim encouraged PTAs and the PTA Council to broaden the scope of the coming year's Town Council budget hearing speakers. If we could get at least six parent and child speakers from each school, and maybe 25 from the Middle and High School, telling the Council, in their own words, what they love best about their school, well...as Jim put it, "How can you say 'No' to a 12-year-old?"
I'll be posting dates, times and actions regarding the Hamden and BOE budgets at this location, so please subscribe to this blog or check back to get alerts.
Marjorie
1 comment:
From BOE Chair, Michael D'Agastino:
For its 2007 budget, the BOE requested a 2.8% increase (about $1.9 million dollars). The Mayor trimmed that request by about $200,000 and send a responsible BOE budget to the Council.
Understanding the fiscal realities faced by the Town, the BOE was the only town department that did not beg the Council for more than the Mayor's recommendation. Quite the contrary, at our budget hearing (which Mr. Gambardella infamously did not attend), we walked through each line item where the BOE imposed cuts and where we projected increases. I said then, and say now, if there are other areas of savings that do not result in laying off teachers and cutting programs, please help us find them.
All council members present seemed to understand what we were saying that night. But then, of course, on the eve of the budget vote, several Council members moved to cut our budget by an additional two million dollars. I found several things infuriating about that effort, not least of which was the fact that these same Council people proposing the reduction failed to make any similar size cut on the town side. They could not make the tough decisions on their side and just took the easy way out -- give the Board less and let them take the heat. Thankfully, leaders on the Council like Matt Fitch, Al Gorman, Kathleen Schoemaker and Jim Pascarella fended off that attempt. The result was a “compromise” of an additional $500,000 reduction.
Now, of course, we already hear the cries from some circles to cut the BOE another one to two million dollars in 2008. I have no problem with people suggesting that, but only so long as they understand what that means. There is only one way to effect a two million dollar cut to the BOE budget this year (or last year): you have to lay off teachers (50% of our budget is just teacher salaries). If anyone does not believe that I invite you to please sit down with me and go over our budget. It is lean. Of course, you can always save thousands here or there with cuts and we are indeed doing that. We are implementing energy conservation measures, we are eliminating programs that do not work and we are also consolidating administrative positions. But a large, significant cut means teacher layoffs.
Now, that may in fact be the result that the majority of townspeople demand. Indeed, there seems to be no will at all on the Council to cut other town services like libraries, etc. Public education, however, is probably the most important service any town provides. Drastic cuts in the form of teacher layoffs degrade that service, resulting in increased class size, cuts in programs, and a decrease in instructional quality (just visit any of our classes with 20-25 kids and you will see what I mean).
Maybe it is that some people believe that there is so much fat in the BOE budget that we can cut millions without effecting instructional quality. Again, if that is the case, we are happy to send anyone the budget and show how lean we are operating. We also invite anyone interested to attend our budget meetings to see how we arrive at our recommended request to the Council. We will, as we did last year, keep streamlining, finding areas to save, and continue to jettison expensive programs that do not show results.
But next year, the teachers alone will make an additional 2% -- that translates into a $1.2 million BOE budget increase. Interestingly, that is exactly the increase we received from the Council last year (after the additional $500K cut). There simply is not alot of room to maneuver.
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