Schools

Schools to Stay Open for Activities

Board of Education finds the funds to avoid closing schools at 5:30 p.m.

Numerous activities that take place after school in the district's buildings were saved being locked out after the Board of Education Tuesday found other funding to help plug a $300,000 hole in its budget.

The shortfall is a result of money taken from this year's budget to make up for a special education funding deficit in last year's budget. The board had considered closing elementary school buildings at 5:30 p.m. to save money, but that would have displaced a number of clubs and organizations that use the buildings for their activities.

In particular, the town's two basketball leagues -- Hamden Regional Basketball and Hamden Father's Basketball -- would especially have been impacted, and representatives from both attended Tuesday's meeting as well as the board's Operations Committee meeting last week to plead with the board not to close the schools.

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"I plead with the board to keep our programs and the other programs alive," said Hamden Father's president Richard Schultz. "To not be able to use the schools would be to do away with us."

"There has to be a way to keep this all going," said Hamden Fathers vice-president John Leonardo. 

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And the board did that by taking $180,000 from the teacher's salaries account, $25,000 from the custodial overtime account, $55,000 from the repairs and maintenance account and using $40,000 in energy savings, including the savings anticipated from the new fuel cell at Hamden High School.

"We are taking some risks and making some trade-offs," said board secretary John Keegan. "I hope this reminds folks that this is not as simple and one-dimensional as they think."

It shows that the board's expenses reach farther than the classroom, he said, and include supporting after-school programs that include sports, performing arts, music and playgrounds. 

Only one board member said he couldn't support the plan. Myron Hul said he couldn't vote in favor of the proposal because positions such as a math specialist for Hamden High School are going unfilled and are desperately needed while salary funds are diverted to make up the budget shortfall.

"We have a hiring freeze yet we have an open position that is mission critical to curriculum delivery," he said. "We have serious issues [at the high school] and put this position in the budget and now we have it on hold."

After the budget shortfalls came to light over the summer, administrators immediately put a freeze on hiring, before the math specialist position could be filled.

"That's what bothers me -- we have said a math specialist is critical but we are not doing it," Hul said. "We are cutting off our nose."

Supt. of Schools Fran Rabinowitz said she doesn't want to do any hiring until it is better known how the budget will shake out this year. As it is, the district is a dozen jobs short of what it was last year, and 20 veteran educators who retired were replace with less experienced, cheaper teachers.

Already they are anticipating a $900,000 shortfall in the district's special education account, Rabinowitz said, and will need to be reimbursed from the town for that money from the state Education Cost Sharing funds. The town already ows the district $600,000 from last year's funds, bringing the total to $1.5 million. It received $1.9 million from the state for last year's shortfall but needed to use it in the town side of the budget, which has been common practice in recent years.

"I am very uncomfortable spending anything at this point," Rabinowitz said. 

The board is all but guaranted the $600,000 payment, Legislative Council president Jim Pascarella told the board, since the council passed an ordinance requiring payment to the school board in March as soon as it receives the state check.

"The board should be comfortable that it is going to get that money," he said. "That IOU has the force of law" that would need to be revoked by both the council and the mayor to be cancelled -- something that would "cause an out roar," he said.

After the board approved the revised plan that keeps the schools open, Leonardo said he's relieved.

"I'm thrilled and I feel that they did the right thing," he said. "I understand the pressure they have and appreciate the effort they made to make this happen."

 


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