With parents lining the walls and spilling out into the hallway from the media room in the basement of City Hall, school Superintendent Stephen Tracy broke the bad news to the Derby tax board Tuesday.
“We’re going to present facts tonight that are uncomfortable — and we are going to ask you to increase taxes,” Tracy said.
How much?
$275 per year — or $23 per month on a property assessed at $189,000, Tracy said. That number doesn’t include the city side of the budget, which is just being formed.
Whether the tax board will view that as reasonable remains to be seen, but Tracy had their full attention as he walked them through a 30-minute presentation detailing why the school district is asking the tax board to allocate $19 million — a 7.25 percent increase, or $1.28 million, over the current budget.
Much of what Tracy said has been covered previously by the Valley Indy.
Click here to read everything we’ve published so far on the proposed school budget.
The reasons Tracy gave for the increase in spending are listed at the end of this article.
A copy of the superintendent’s presentation is posted below. The article continues after the document:
FY2012 BoAT Presentation SHORT 2011-03-29
Tax board members asked questions about certain items in the proposed school budget, but none of the inquiries revealed what they thought of the spending plan one way or the other.
The latest version of the school budget calls for the elimination of four positions from the school district.
Tax board member Timothy Conlon asked Tracy whether those layoffs were real. Click play on the video below to see the question and response.
Tax board chairwoman Judy Szewczyk said last year her board would have loved to fully fund the school district’s funding request.
A question Derby has to ask — how long can a struggling, tiny city continue to fund an additional $1 million to the school district each year?
Click play on the video below to hear Szewczyk’s comment. Article continues after the video.
Tracy said the school board has formed a strategic planning committee. A subcommittee of that group will be examining ways to cut costs in the school district. The subcommittee just held their first meeting and are exploring things such as whether to close Derby High School or consolidate the Bradley and Irving schools. Click here to learn more about that subcommittee.
Click the video below to listen to Tracy talk about the long range planning underway in the school district.
The many parents who attended the meeting did not get a chance to voice their opinion on the school budget.
The tax board meeting was considered a workshop, one in which the board did not offer public comment.
The tax board and school officials will meet again at 7 p.m. on Tuesday April 19 in City Hall to presumably pepper Tracy with questions.
The meeting is open to anyone who wants to attend, but public comment is not expected to be offered at that meeting, either.
A public hearing on the entire Derby budget is tentatively scheduled for May 10.
The increase:
Tracy said about 77 percent of the proposed $1.28 million spending increase are due to factors the school district has little to no control over, including:
- $191,000 in wage increases for teachers
- $344,000 in benefit premium increases
- $186,000 increase in energy costs
- $147,000 in unemployment costs
- $22,000 in transportation
- $21,000 in special education tuition
- $50,000 for substitute teachers
- $33,000 to expand a special education position mandated by enrollment
Tracy and the school board are also asking for:
- $40,000 for curriculum development
- $40,000 for teacher training
- $30,000 for a reading program to bolster Derby’s below average test scores
- $20,000 for an online learning program that could help the dropout rate at the high school
- $31,000 to improve the technology infrastructure
- $50,000 to begin to address problems pointed out in a recent Derby High School study
Obviously no one wants taxes to go up however the lasting effects that an underfunded educational system will have on Derby must be taken into consideration. New families must be attracted to Derby if there is any hope of climbing out the financial free-fall that the city is in and the best way to attract new families is with a strong school district. Education is one area where Derby can not afford to pinch pennies. We must invest in the education of future generations or risk losing taxpayers to nearby towns.
A good compromise may be to limit the increase by putting a freeze on the new programs being proposed until the entire district can be reevaluated.
I speak for myself when I say it is time to fund our schools properly. The first thing we should do is stop the layoffs. This can be accomplished by Leasing the under used City Hall. The City Hall building was designed as a Bank. Bank of America is leaving because the only traffic it gets is people using the ATM to pay court fees and all the cars parked on Elizabeth Street are the cars of people in court. The taxes alone generated would save teachers jobs. City Hall can then move back to 35 Fifth Street where it served the City for decades. Can someone tell me why is it when times are tough that city governments immediately look to the schools to cut spending? This is a very Republican (Barry Goldwater)agenda. And the first program they want to cut is Industrial Arts. So we are telling the kids that you can’t learn a trade and you must aspire to work behind a desk. We must seriously talk about moving City Hall. It will work.
I disagree about moving City Hall back to the old location because there’s no guarantee we can even get a bank back in there. But even then, well, it’s obvious by now how I feel about funding the school system. Those $275 in additional taxes would be paid by homeowners. I’d like to know how many people on fixed incomes actually own their homes.
Regardless of this, as someone who IS affected by this, I’d be willing to pay even more. Check Derby’s funding numbers compared to other Valley towns. If what we’re saying about funding the schools is accurate, then we’re saying Derby is inhabitable. Period.
Twenty three dollars a month? I can live with that. I’m sure Karaku in Seymour will be disappointed, though.
Superbus: I too am affected and I send my kids to Private schools. But, I am willing to pay the extra taxes even though they don’t benefit me. We all need to step up to the plate and fund the school system until a solid tax base (businesses) can carry the day. The schools should not have to beg for money every year. We should fund them and hold them accountable. This shouldn’t even be an issue year to year. The schools are lead by a group of highly educated people who are telling us in plain english that because the Federal Govt mandates certain teachers and programs need to maintained they will need this additional money to comply with the Fed.
sharpeye: I don’t know where you are looking in Derby because everywhere I turn I see houses for sale and not just in the “low-income” areas that you seem to have such a prejudice against.
What it sounds like you are saying is that instead of trying to improve Derby’s school systems everyone with kids should pack up and hightail it out of here. That is ridiculous! I am not willing to give up on Derby yet because I know we can do better and I will gladly pay additional taxes if that’s what it is going to take. It is shameful how little Derby is commiting to our schools when compared to area towns.
aCitizen…..You are right on the mark!
Thank you mark1134 and well said DerbyGuy, I couldn’t agree more
I just saw something that bothers me:
Perhaps, that’s why members of my family moved to towns like Fairfield and Madison, as, their children, perhaps, would have an opportunity for a better education in those communities.
To me, this is a massive problem that, if allowed to get out of control, won’t show signs of improving. I’m bothered by people just up and running from their problems like this. What if those communities run into problems with their school systems? What if they underfund things? Are those people going to keep moving? Are they nomads?
I see people all the time, especially on the Facebook page, saying “well, sucks to be you, I moved! Thank God for that!”, and it makes me cringe. It tells me that people would rather run than actually try to fix their problems. This is a major problem that has to be fixed, and I’d rather do that than just cut and run.
The children are our future!! I have 2 in Derby schools and if it is more taxes needed to provide them with a decent education (text books, music classes, art classes, full day kindergarten and sports); I am for it.
I’m not convinced that the additional $275 a year in taxes would hurt so much?
sharpeye: I notice that you seem to berate everyone else’s ideas but offer very few solutions yourself.
You mentioned Derby’s low median income however, have you considered that this number includes people who do not own their homes and therefore would not be effected by the tax increases? Also, you mentioned that Ansonia’s median income is lower than Derby’s so why are they outspending us on education? Perhaps I am not the one who needs to do more fact checking.
To piggyback on what superbus said, your solution to this problem seems to be to push it off on another town, either by people moving out of Derby or by sending our high school students to another district. Why are you against solving the problem in-house so to speak?
Mother: I agree with you, every child deserves a well funded, well rounded education. Derby needs to make this top priority.
So sharpeye I guess you agree with me. We have come back to my original point that Derby needs to attract more taxpayers to Derby who will then attract more businesses to set up shop in Derby which will increase our Grand List. And how do you attract more taxpayers? With a better school system fully equipped with technology, up-to-date textbooks, sports and arts programs, low class sizes, etc. For Derby to have these things more must be spent on education which includes increasing taxes. It’s a classic case of spending more to make money.