Board of Education Sends Budget To City Council

The Board of Education voted 5-2 in a special meeting on Thursday to send a $40,741,333 budget to the City Council after proposals to eliminate the assistant superintendent’s position and hold off on increases to the custodial budget fell through.

The 2011-2012 budget is an increase of $923,928, or 2.32 percent, over last year’s budget. Bill Morse, chairman of the board’s Finance Committee, said the budget came down from a $40,983,469 figure after Maria Whalen, director of business and finance for the , found some that operations and unemployment were over-budgeted and that some figures were duplicated.

The proposal to eliminate the assistant superintendent position, occupied by Dr. Christine Carver, was brought up by Secretary Jason Catala. Catala said such a move would bring the budget down to under a 2 percent increase, arguing at first that the position costs the district approximately $200,000. Whalen said salary, benefits, and other costs excluding travel associated with the position are about $160,000.

“For many years when I was on the Board of Education we did not have an assistant superintendent,” said Catala. “It was a new position added. I actually did not support that position. We had someone in it for awhile, it went away for awhile, and then it came back. So I think it would be a nice cut for the board to make.”

Catala said the assistant superintendent’s duties would be assumed by Superintendent Nicholas Fischer and other staff in the school system. The motion failed with only Catala voting in favor.

The vote followed discussions on salary increases for the unaffiliated staff and the addition of about $133,000 for increased custodial staff at the schools. In the latter issue, Superintendent Nicholas Fischer said custodians cover about 60,000 square feet of space and will have additional duties if the schools are opened for more evening use, a proposal that has been floated as a way of providing more evening youth activities. He said full-time custodians will also be easier to retain than part-time staff, who are more likely to leave when a full-time position with benefits is available.

Board member Ronna Stuller proposed reducing the increased custodial expenditure to $100,000, and the motion failed 2-5. Catala’s proposal to cut the entire expenditure until receiving word on the budget from the city also failed along the same lines.

The vote on the final budget was 5-2 in favor, with board members Catala and Barbara Major opposed. The budget will now go before the city’s Finance Committee in April.

The board also discussed a motion to increase the salary for unaffiliated (non-union) employees by two percent. Susan Connolly, the board’s vice president, said it represents an additional $23,000 to $24,000 and affects 77 employees, including cafeteria workers, paraprofessionals, and technicians.

Catala proposed an amendment that would only give the raise to unaffiliated employees making $50,000 or less.

“I would caution us to have an arbitrary cutoff such as that," said Connolly. "That arbitrary cutoff might not capture everyone that you intend to."

Connolly said such a cutoff could lead to issues such as a longer-serving person in a position not getting a raise due to a higher salary while another person with the same title would be eligible. When board member Barbara Major asked if job cuts could result from the city asking the board to zero-balance the budget, Connolly said it was possible but that it would not be known until the process was complete. Fischer said that if the city asks for more cuts, it will be a shared burden.

"I think the only way to deal with this is to say hey, it's a horrible situation, but the only fair way is to cut across the board," he said.

Catala’s amendment was rejected in a 2-5 vote. In the ensuing discussion, Major said teachers at and had lower salaries than the paraprofessionals in the public school system. Board member Louise Hanrahan cautioned that public and private school salaries cannot be adequately compared, and that the salaries in the New London Public Schools are lower compared to surrounding districts.

The vote to increase the unaffiliated salaries passed 4-3.

Correction: The article originally referred to Jason Catala as a board member and Louis Hanrahan as secretary of the board. Catala is now secretary and Hanrahan is a board member.