Council Signs Off on Education Budget

The Legislative Council Wednesday approved Mayor Scott Jackson's proposed $79.1 million 2011-12 school budget without changes, despite one council member's urging to increase that allocation.

The mayor's budget is about $750,000 less than what Supt. of Schools Fran Rabinowitz proposed, and about $350,000 less than what the Board of Education ultimately approved to send on to the mayor.

It's not as much as they would have liked, Rabinowitz said, but it is a budget she believes the district will be able to get by on for the next school year.

One council member said he couldn't support the budget because he believes it will not adequately fund the system to the level it deserves.

"The Board of Education did major cuts to get the budget where it's at -- there are many other cuts that we never saw," said Councilman Tom Rousseau, D-6, a former BOE member, said. The proposed budget includes a significant number of teaching position cuts, he said, as well as cuts to textbook purchases and programs such as the Language Arts program.

"I was on the Board of Education for years, and whenever it came to a situation dealing with the budget where you hear we have to cut more, it's always 'perhaps the TAG program,'" he said, referring to the district's Talented and Gifted program. "It's never "if we have to cut, maybe we should cut the hockey program.'

"If it were the hockey program, you would have a thousand people sitting here," he said, gesturing to the comparatively small audience.

Ultimately not properly funding the education system will affect every resident, he said, because businesses look at factors such as the education system, and residents purchase homes in large part based on schools.

There are 15 positions eliminated in the budget, but an early retirement incentive plan the school board will soon consider could cut that number, Rabinowitz said. 

"I wouldn't hire all of them back -- some of the positions we can do without," she said, "but some are going to result in diminishing programs at the high school and larger class sizes in the elementary schools."

Some areas that will be affected include the Family and Consumer Science programs, the Business program at the high school and special education programs, she said. The high school's French program will be cut in half, she said.

"We'll make it work to give students the best education they can receive," she said. "Given the economic times I believe we have withstood a lot in Hamden and I am grateful that we haven't had the mass layoffs we have seen in other districts."

There are 46 educators who would be eligible under an early retirement incentive program, Rabinowitz said, but 22 of them are in shortage areas such as math and special education. On the average, the district saves $30,000 when replacing a veteran educator with a new hire, but that amount can be considerably less when it concerns a shortage area where there is a limited number of potential replacements, and as a result salaries are higher in those areas.

The district's Administrators Union agreed to a wage freeze for the next year, Rabinowitz said. Teachers will receive an wage increase of a little less than 2 percent, she said, but that comes after a year where they received no wage increase and agreed to a furlough day, for an average giveback of about $1,100 per teacher.

That's less than what the town employees have agreed to, Councilwoman Betty Wetmore said.

"I know the town side has given a lot more than that," she said, "and I had hoped the education side would step up and give more."

Ultimately the council believes the district will continue to thrive under next year's budget, Councilman Michael R. Colaiacovo Jr. said.

"When I was first on the council in 2005 there was a lot of skepticism [between the council and the school board]," he said.

"I think all of us trust [Rabinowitz] and support your budget," he said. "This is a year of shared sacrifice and I think we provided this year the best education that we can afford."