The upcoming BOE meetings
Per BOE member Tony Perugini on a previous post:
The budget meetings are as follows:
1/7/2010 - Presentation of Super's Budget 7:30pm at Town Hall
1/12/2010 - Public Budget Review #1 7:30pm Dodd Middle School
1/14/2010 - Public Budget Review #2 7:30pm Dodd Middle School
1/19/2010 - Public Informational Meeting/Board Member Responses to Superintendent’s Budget/Adoption of a Board of Education Budget, if possible
1/21/2010 - BOE Business Meeting 7:30pm Town Council Chambers
If you have any questions about my following post - such as the meaning of "tuition" - I encourage you to attend the BOE meetings and ask your questions. I'm sure you'll get a better answer there, than from me.
Tim White
11 comments:
I would assume that Florio would include a teacher give-back in his budget. We can't afford another year without a significant give-back.
Last year, Florio kept saying he was having discussions and in the end, came up with a big fat zero. Mr Schrumm was right in saying the council has to know in early January what can be recovered.
It's time to bring teacher pay in line with reality, and we should be looking to revamp the entire current system that is not working for anyone except the teachers. re.
Thanks for posting Tim.
- Tony
Tony... np.
5:23... I recently spoke with a friend of mine who is a teacher in CT (not Cheshire). My friend said that the teachers' union to which my friend belongs voted on concessions.
The vote failed with 90% against concessions.
Frankly, there was a legitimate point that "opening the contract" puts everything on the table... but to address such concerns... the union should simply get every voting official (9 + 7) on the record with regard to anything else being up for discussion.
If the elected officials publicly state that nothing is on the table except for raises... then that issue is a red herring.
My friend told me of no other credible arguments against concessions.
Also, my friend has tenure and is nowhere near a layoff.
"Tuition" is for tuition outplacements. It's all to do with special education and is a required expenditure.
Do you really think we'll see concessions?? I highly doubt it. Leake will probably come before the board and give the same speech he gave last year. Layoffs will be threatened (like last year) and parents will beg for no layoffs and no increases in class sizes (as they always do). They won't offer any solutions though. In the end (last year) there were no layoffs but there were reductions in positions. Textbooks & supplies were reduced and the participation fee was reinstated. If I recall it was mentioned at one of the meetings that, had there been union concessions, most of the reductions wouldn't have had to happen. This tells me that it's not about the "kids" but about the "money" in their paychecks.
Since enrollment is down perhaps Chapman and/or Darcy should be closed. Spread those kids out to the other schools and deal with it. Review all positions and reduce where possible.
Enrollment isn't down and all of the schools are at capacity as of 10/1/09. No school closures will occur, not this year, maybe in 2013.
There will be no concessions. We would've seen them already if the unions are willing to cooperate.
The budget increase was televised at the budget preview meeting two weeks ago. It's a 4% increase.
The mill rate will go up. How much depends on how much the Town and Education cut back in their respective budgets. But the mill rate will go up.
Anonymous said...
Enrollment isn't down and all of the schools are at capacity as of 10/1/09.
Interesting....Highland has a capacity of I believe 950 or so. The enrollment there is currently 840 give or take a few.
Enollment at Highland is 910 students, Source: Florio's Office.
So, we should close a school because it's enrollment is 40 students under capacity. Yes, let's shove 910 students into the remaining at capacity schools. That'll teach 'em! That's almost as genius a move as giving the union the 16% raise.
I hope the folks that are providing these profound insights into the school budget will get their facts straight IF they show up at the budget meetings to address the issues. The dumber we look/sound on camera the more credibility is gained by folks presenting their budgets.
I will be there Thurs night with my facts and questions. Hopefully, they'll let the public ask questions but I don't see that listed on the Agenda.
To 10:26 - I suggest you reread 8:43's comments. No where there does it suggest closing Highland!
910 sounds like Highland's enrollment about 2 years ago. When I go to work tomorrow (AT HIGHLAND), I'll have to get the paperwork that shows the actual enrollment as reported by Highland's office. It is no where near 910.
And I doubt they'll be answering questions tomorrow night. They never have in the past 6 or so years that I've attended the proposed budget presentation meeting. In fact, it's the first time that the board members get Florio's budget. Perhaps they got a summary of it two weeks ago during that preview meeting.
I hope the folks that are providing these profound insights into the school budget will get their facts straight IF they show up at the budget meetings to address the issues. The dumber we look/sound on camera the more credibility is gained by folks presenting their budgets.
Sounds like you have a bit of an attitude. How many budget meetings have you attended. Usually there are just two people there regularly - me and another smart gentleman.
If you go, please don't ask a bunch of repeat questions like about copier rentals vs owning, postage vs emailing, how much does it cost for the food service dept., or who cleans the buildings. If you've been paying attention, you'd know all those answers already. Besides, you don't want to look dumb now do you??
For 10:26
Enrollment as of 10-1-2009 at Highland School -
840
Enrollment as of 1-4-2010 -
831
Class size ranges from 17 to 22 (lowest in the younger grades).
Source: Highland School
How much money do we have(taxes) and how much are we willing to spend? Im sure everyone has a different opinion. We must find a resonable balance for all. It's going to be hard but it will be done by this new Boe and TC.
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