Taking On The Biggest Budget

This Monday, March 28, 2011, the Waterford Board of Finance (BOF) will hold its last detailed budget hearing.  The final budget to be considered is 57.45% of the total $74.4 million budget.  Yet it is a budget where the BOF only has bottom line control.  I am speaking of $42.9 million Board of Education (BOE) Budget.  Since I just received the updated budget after the layoffs I will point out where the budget changed due to inability to obtain a wage freeze.

The format of the presented budget consists of an introduction by the Superintendent, the expected income from sources other than taxes, a summary of the key Account Groups in the budget, the budget details, some statistical data on the school system, and some historical data on previous budgets to provide some perspective on the current budget.

The new Superintendent provided an updated introduction where he noted that there is a reduction of 15.60 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) certified staff (teachers and school administrators) and 9.33 FTE non-certified staff.  He also provided a detailed breakdown of the changes that were necessary to get the required $542,770 reduction to keep the budget request at $42,914,414.

Looking at expected income other than taxes ($4,104,728 – an update from the original $3,878,474), the stand out is a loss of $1,062,097 in revenue from the Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that the BOE received in 2009 and 2010 (FY2010 and FY 2011).  According to the budget, these funds were used to “increase by 0.4 FTE (Full Time Equivalent) teacher support for program coordination and PPTs (Planning and Placement Team meetings) and to furnish 2.0 FTE paraprofessionals, a Transition Coordinator at Waterford High School, a Job Coach at Waterford High School, Reading and Mathematics materials, professional development for special education teachers, tutors for each school, and other software and technical support.”

The budget is divided into fifteen account groups.  Salaries and employee benefits account for $34,202,137 or 79.7% (up from $33,892,142 or 78.97% in the original submission) of the total requested budget (61.14% in salaries up from 60.54% and 18.56% in benefits up from 18.43% ).  The next largest account group is transportation at $2,297,936 or 5.35% of the BOE budget down from $2,413,936 or 5.63% of the BOE budget.  Operation and Maintenance of the BOE buildings account for $1,859,280 or 4.33% of the budget, and tuition to other institutions for Waterford students is $1,829,042 or 4.26% of the budget.  Contracted Services are $1,154,088 or 2.69% of the budget, up from 1,124,088 or 2.62% of the original budget.  Supplies, textbooks, and library books are the next largest expenditure at $874,099 or 2.19% of the budget down from $1,040,342 or 2.43% in the original submission.

In the 2002-2003 academic year, the Waterford School District had 277.29 FTE instructional positions.  By the 2006-2007 academic year, the instructional positions had dropped to 269.83 positions.  As noted above the ARRA permitted the district to increase to 273.91 FTE positions for the 2008-2009 academic year.  With the loss of ARRA funds and a wage freeze the instructional FTE positions would have been 263.38 for the 2011-2012 academic year.  The losses would have been by attrition rather than layoffs.  Instead, the proposed certified positions for the 2011-2012 academic year is 252.93 FTE at a $21,224,140 cost instead of the original budget proposal of $21,015,955. 

Support salaries are $5,011,692 or 11.67% of  the proposed budget vice the $4,966,400 or 11.58% of the original  budget and consist of 149.43 FTE support personnel vice the original 156.93 FTE support personnel in areas such as school secretaries, information technology technicians, buildings and grounds personnel, playground aides, crossing guards, and classroom paraprofessionals.

Health Insurance is the most significant employee benefit and by itself is 15.04% of the total budget at $6,453,039 up from the original submission of $6,522,618.  This is an increase of $1,526,524 or 30.99% over the current year’s budget figure.  Other benefits include employer’s FICA contribution, Life Insurance, Unemployment compensation, Workers’ Compensation, Unused sick leave, and Retirement incentive to employees retiring as of June 30, 2011.

Contracted Services include costs for services to blind students and the New London Adult Education Program.  It also provides funds for staff development and curriculum development as well as legal and nursing services, including mandated health services at Waterford Country School.

Besides the twenty three (23) buses (down two from the original twenty five (25) buses) for regular education, the transportation account pays for nine special education budgets including three that are wheelchair equipped.  Transportation is also provided for Waterford students who attend the Magnet School in New London, Grasso and Norwich Tech, Ledyard Vo-Ag School, the Friendship School, the Science and Technology Magnet School in New London, the Dual Language Arts Academy at the old Southwest School, and the Marine Science Magnet High School of Southeastern Connecticut opening in Groton in the fall of 2011.

Insurances other than employee benefits are projected to cost $210,045 (down from the original submission of $222,355)  and communications, postage and advertising add another $125,889  (unchanged) to the budget.

The largest part of the $1,829,042 (unchanged) tuition account is the cost of $1,416,974 for private special education for out of district placement for approximately 34 special education students.  The remainder of the budget accounts for the eighty five Waterford Students that attend the various magnet and technical schools in the area. 

Other Purchased Services of $156,762 (down from an original $173,824) include travel reimbursement for staff travel between the five schools during the day, travel to conferences and meetings outside the district for personnel and BOE members, student field trips and miscellaneous contracted services such as software support, and pest control.  Conferences and education was cut $13,462 and field trips cut $3,600 from the original budget submissions.

The Instructional Supplies Account Group of $503,623 (down from original $606,914) includes all district software licensing costs ($167,270 down from an original $206,266), testing supplies ($11,882 down from an original $22,882), unique classroom supplies for science, math, arts, and music ($127,180 down from an original $153,023), audio visual supplies ($11,658 down from an original $14,565), the mundane classroom supplies such as pens, paper, pencils, etc. ($176915 down from an original $200,690) and rentals of special education and maintenance equipment ($1,675-no change).

Operation and Maintenance of Buildings at $1,859,280 (unchanged) is an important account group that includes water and sewer service, fuel oil, natural gas, propane, and electricity plus and maintenance supplies and the actual maintenance and repair of the buildings.

The smaller account groups in the budget include Textbooks ($370,476 down from an original $433,428), Equipment ($105,096 down from an original $133,476), Dues and Fees ($47,539 - unchanged), and Operating Capital Improvements ($52,501 - unchanged).

The sole purpose of the BOE budget is to provide an education to a projected 3,064 Waterford students.  This is up slightly from the 3,021 in the current school year.  The BOE expects there to be 897 High School Students, 696 Clark Lane Middle School students and 1,321 elementary school students plus an additional 150 prekindergarten students at the Friendship school.

It is interesting to note that in 2001-2002 the school budget was $30,859,728.  The proposed $42,914,414 is an increase of $12,054,686 or 39.06% increase over the past ten years.  The largest single year increase in the past ten years was a 4.42% increase from 2004-05 to 2005-06.  The rate of inflation for the past ten years has been 25% so the real dollar BOE budget increase in the past ten years has been 11.22% according to the on line inflation calculator at http://www.usinflationcalculator.com. 

I encourage all Waterford citizens to attend the BOF budget hearings on Monday March 28 and Wednesday March 30, 2011 and voice their opinions on the budget before the BOF makes its final recommendation to the Representative Town Meeting (RTM).