Saturday, January 11, 2014

Guest blog: A Light Dawns.. Commentary on BOE Budget Workshop by Brian Kaskel

All opinions of guest bloggers are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Insider staff. Kaskel's privious guest blog was published here: http://www.middletowninsider.com/2014/01/are-we-content-by-kaskel-boe-budget.html
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Light Dawns….

(A commentary by Brian Kaskel)

The Board of Education held a Budget Workshop this past Tuesday. I wasn’t sure what 

to expect going into it – and after leaving I am not surprised. The “Workshop” was not a 

workshop at all, but rather a public forum allowing the different departments throughout 

the district to put in a request for their share of the budget pie. All board members were in 

attendance, as was Superintendent Patricia Charles, Assistant Superintendent Enza Macri, and a 

bevy of other staff members, Principals and department heads.

The meeting was as expected, a plea from each department on how they wanted Dr. Charles 

to spend the soon to be allocated budget. More importantly, it helped both Dr. Charles and the 

Board to better understand how much money to ask from the city. The Athletic department 

was represented and they are asking to be brought back to 2012 levels of spending. There was 

a request from the Technology department for the board to consider more staff and supplies 

to keep the district’s technology position moving forward, especially because of the new state 

testing requirements. Transportation was looking to add to its fleet of busses in order to create 

a safer environment for students and drivers on certain routes. There is also a contractual 

requirement of a 5% increase due to DATTCO for the 2014/15 school year. The Buildings/

Facilities department spoke to things that they felt needed to be done based on a sliding scale

of priority. There was extra time in the night’s agenda to open the discussion on how the 

“power of Sodexo” has helped the district financially in addition to other ancillary benefits. 

Of course the Principals had staffing needs based on the grade level they were there to

represent. There was an agreement amongst the school level administrators that class sizes

need to be kept in check, as well as offering social services on a more manageable level. There 

is a need for classroom teachers at the elementary level and special elective teachers at the

high school level (to make us more competitive with other districts and magnet schools).

Interventionists are an affordable solution and there appears to be a drastic need for more 

Social Services case managers – as the need for social work or even school psychiatry is on the 

rise year after year. Ms. Macri discussed the curriculum and professional development needs 

and costs moving forward, and the Special Education requests seemed to make sense as a short 

term / long term plan to save the district money based on state mandates.

Board of Education new comers, Vincent (Vinnie) Loffredo and Linda Szynkowicz were most 

vocal with questions regarding the Alliance Grant (more on that later), transportation bids 

and technology leases. Unfortunately, although this was a public forum, there was not room 

on the agenda for the public to ask questions nor throw support in any one direction. Also 

because of the formality of the meeting, neither I, nor anyone else was able to question the 

amount of the budget and/or how it was being spent on administration at Hunting Hill (BOE). 

Not that there aren’t valid reasons for how that money is being spent, but it would be nice to 

review. It was determined, as a general consensus, that not all requests will be granted, and 

that the superintendent’s requested dollar figure will more than likely not be met by the city. 

Dr. Charles said that, “we have been informed that the city is trying hard just to do what they 

did last year” and implied that it would not be an easy task.

Speaking of last year, now is a good time to talk about that Alliance grant and how it is 

becoming more clear that the City is using the grant as an opportunity to “borrow from Peter 

to pay Paul” as was suggested at the meeting. This “shell game” was apparently so repulsive 

to Mr. Loffredo I thought he was going to storm over to City Hall right then and there. This 

further supports my theory that politics has no place in education. If Mr. Loffredo, a seasoned 

Democrat, is willing to get this upset at his party for the decisions made – then maybe we do 

have a fighting chance! 

As an Alliance District, the Board of Education has to apply for funds from the State of 

Connecticut’s Alliance Grant. The State then filters the awarded amount through the City on 

behalf of the Board of Education. 100% of the Alliance funds have to be disbursed to the Board 

of Education to be used on the items specified in their Grant Application. However, the City 

is allowed to use a “considerable majority” to offset their required allocation to the Board of

Education. The City is required to give the Board no less than what was given the year prior. 

A “considerable majority” is to be determined by the municipality. It our case, the brain trust 

that was the common council/mayor (circa 2013) decided that 51% is a “considerable majority”. 

Here is the breakdown:

2013-14 Alliance Grant was for $1,964,722. The City agreed to give the BOE an increase in the 

annual budget of $1,955,914, of which a “considerable majority” was paid for via the Alliance 

Grant. So, rather than offering the BOE an additional $1,955,914 PLUS all or most of the 

Alliance Grant, they used the grant to offset their allocation and thus entered into a game of

smoke and mirrors. 

The spirit of the Alliance Grant is to have the funds used in addition to any increase the 

City would have offered, yet nearly half of the increase the city agreed to give the Board of 

Education, was paid for with these funds. 

Looking ahead to 2014-15, in order to handle all of the unfunded state mandates and to fund 

the system as it is today, Dr. Charles, at the time of writing this, intends to ask the City for a 

5.81% increase PLUS 72% of this year’s Alliance Grant which is expected to be $3,138,691.

So yes, it is an uphill battle and a battle that needs to be fought on two fronts and with 

everything we have. Battle one – a fight for the money. Battle two – figuring out the best 

way to spend what we do get. I encourage like minded parents, students, staff and citizens of 

Middletown to come together and do whatever they can to get the message across. We are 

a community with an educational system sorely at risk. If the Board of Education continues to

be underfunded at these levels we will certainly lose ground and become even less appealing. 

When the appeal goes away, so do the residents. Lower performing schools result in lower 

home values. Lower home values equal higher tax rates to make up for lost revenue. As I have 

said before, we need to fund the schools, but not by causing additional burdens to the tax

payers of Middletown. It is time to make hard decisions, maybe put off some of the downtown

revival ideas, and spend that money on the schools. I am a ready and willing body to open the 

books and take a second look. I am sure the money is there. Who’s with me?

(Brian Kaskel is a Middletown Parent and former candidate for the Board of Education)

4 comments:

  1. Many questions arise from Brian's report; he writes,

    "Interventionists are an affordable solution and there appears to be a drastic need for more Social Services case managers – as the need for social work or even school psychiatry is on the rise year after year."

    What never seems to get addressed is; "Why do social service needs keep increasing, year after year?" The root cause must be dealt with; only treating a symptom does not cure the underlying infection.

    Brian also mentions state mandates tied to state aid. Where does the state aid money actually come from? Us. It is our money; they take it from us involuntarily, give it back to us as an act of benevolence and attach conditions to it.

    For us to beg state bureaucrats for our own money makes us subservient and diminishes local control of our schools.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The entire budget is smoke and mirrors and opaque as opposed to transparent.

    The lack of information, even from the school district is appalling. The budget they have posted doesn't even show how much money was spent in the same category last year, and there is no information on staffing levels or why there are large increases or decreases.

    We shouldn't have to call the superintendent office or show up at a meeting to get basic information that we used to get.

    Arrogance.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Why can't the schools just spend wisely with the funds they have? Did they really need to hire the police chief's wife, make dean of students into assistant principals and soon promote Serra's anger management kid? Maybe when they start managing the money they do get in a responsible way on students, and there is tangible evidence of achievement, more money can be diverted for them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. A couple of years ago, under Dr. Frechette's watch, the BOE dispersed more funds than they had available; basically had an overdraft on their checkbook. Their grant funds and cafeteria funds were in the red; however, neither the café or grant funds' budgets are anywhere to be found on the BOE's website. I know old news; however, in the latest CAFR issued by the City and auditors, both of those funds are still in overdraft status. However, now a presentation has been done showing how great the new management of the café is; how do we know since we haven't had a true accounting of the café fund??? No budget available. Basically what happened in my mind is that the BOE wrote checks knowing that the City would cover them without asking; the money to cover those checks came from the fund balance however which the City needs to approve; but that's never really happened. I find it hard to trust that this won't happen again. I haven't seen any real change in transparency in the BOE's budgeting process.

    ReplyDelete

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