No Fair! A Commentary On Derby’s Proposed Budget

No fair!

That’s what the kids say on the playground when they know something’s just not right. And that’s what they’d say about the Mayor Staffieri’s budget proposal if they had the opportunity to read and understand it.

Here’s why:

The budget that the Mayor proposed last week included over $580,000 in new spending at city hall – but not a dime in new money for our schools.

Last week, the Mayor offered three arguments to justify his ‘zero increase’ position:

1) The school district can make up for his cuts by applying for a school reform grant.

2) The Board of Education should “keep the surplus” that it is projecting for the end of this year, so it won’t need any new money next year, and;

3) We shouldn’t provide any new money to our schools until a new superintendent has arrived.

None of these points hold up to scrutiny, though.

To begin with, applications for the grant program, which was included in the recently enacted school reform law, won’t even be accepted until mid-August. And who knows how long it might be before applications are approved or funded?

Meanwhile, the Board of Education will adopt its budget on June 7. More importantly, the grant funds are intended to fund new efforts that will improve student performance – not to make up for budget cuts.

The best way for the city to make sure that Derby doesn’t qualify for a school reform grant would be to cut the school budget and expect the state to make up for it. The city doesn’t fund itself with “maybe later” money. Our schools can’t operate that way either.

What about the surplus?

A big part of this year’s surplus resulted from unexpectedly low unemployment claims. But the Board of Education has already dealt with that matter, cutting next year’s unemployment account by about 65 percent.

Ditto with the savings in gas and electricity that resulted from this year’s relatively mild winter.

More importantly, any surplus that does remain as of June 30, 2012 automatically goes back to the city – so it’s not available to fund our schools next year. The only way the schools get money for the coming year is in the appropriation that the Board of Apportionment approves this week.

Finally, what should the departure of the superintendent have to do with funding for our schools? Nothing!

The needs that the Board of Education seeks to address for next year – like decent class sizes, the employment of school librarians, delivery of special education services and training for our teachers – will be with us next year no matter who the superintendent is.

City leaders should be looking for ways to support Derby’s schools through this time of leadership change – not taking advantage of it as an excuse to gut the school budget.

Because the Mayor didn’t unveil his proposed budget until the last night of a three month budget process, there is very little time for other city leaders and citizens to understand and respond to it.

But one thing we can all agree on.

The economy remains strained, and we can only expect so much from the city’s taxpayers. So here’s my suggestion.

The Mayor and the Board of Apportionment should first agree on how much new revenue can reasonably be raised for 2012-13, given the economic realities.

Then, whatever that amount is, let’s split it equally between the city and schools. That way, both city departments and our schools share equally in the available resources – along with the difficult reductions that will have to be made to live within them.

Fair enough?