At the end of the meeting, the committee’s chairman, Second Ward Alderman Lorie Vaccaro, said that if they could, Aldermen would allocate a 10 percent increase for the school district.
But they can’t.
Vaccaro told school officials the Aldermen’s finance committee would “do the best we can” for the school district in a final recommendation to send to the full Board of Aldermen, who have ultimate say over the budget.
Behind the scenes, meanwhile, the city is trying persuade school officials and employees that changes to the school district’s insurance plans could deliver hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings.
The Valley Indy recorded video of Thursday’s meeting in its entirety. Click the play button above to watch.
Article continues after booklet prepared by the school district detailing the budget proposal.
BOE 16 – 17 Budget Presentation – Aldermen 3 – 31-16
Here’s a quick recap of the meeting:
- 2:49 Superintendent Carol Merlone talks about “misconceptions” she’s heard about the school district regarding its number of administrators and the city’s demographics. The superintendent pointed out many of the city’s school-aged children live in poverty — more than double the state average.
- 7:45 to 8:45 Merlone concludes and Assistant Superintendent Michael Wilson begins a presentation that focuses first on the increasing costs the school district faces every year for special education.
- 13:45 to 15:15 Wilson says Ansonia has to spend more and more money every year on special education — and the city is getting shortchanged on grants intended to help foot the bill.
- 15:47 Wilson says Ansonia doesn’t have more administrators than districts with a similar number of students. “To say that we’re administrator-heavy or top-heavy, that is a lie.”
- 17:45 James Gaskins, the school district’s business administrator, reviews the budget proposal for Aldermen.
- 28:30 Vaccaro asks a question about employee benefits.
- 40:05 to 41:50 First Ward Alderman Charles Stowe asks a question about why spending has not gone up for things like books. The administrators say dollars are needed elsewhere.
- 47:30 Stowe talks about the city needing more aid from the state. Gaskins later notes that even without being fully funded, grants pay for nearly 60 percent of the school district’s costs as it is.
- 57:00 Gaskins finishes his presentation and answers more questions from Aldermen.
Budget Background
In February, the school board voted to request $2 million more in year-over-year funding, which would represent a 6.79 percent increase over its 2015 – 2016 budget.
The next week, Mayor David Cassetti presented a budget proposal calling for a $30,805,484 budget for the Board of Education, with a 2.5 percent, or $752,389, increase in funding from last year.
The mayor said his proposal was contingent on the school district’s union employees moving to a a high-deductible health care plan with health savings accounts, which he said would save roughly $600,000.
The city’s Board of Apportionment and Taxation voted unanimously to send the mayor’s recommendation for school funding to the city’s Aldermen, who have ultimate say on the spending plan.
Drama Behind The Scenes
Days later, the school board’s president, William Nimons, was dismissed from his job as the city’s comptroller by Cassetti.
The mayor said at the time that Nimons had missed an $800,000 “hole” in the budget — which meant the budget passed by the tax board actually carries a slight tax increase.
The mayor also said Nimons’ position with the school board conflicted with his role at the city.
Nimons called the mayor’s reasons “bogus,” and pointed out that he was school board president when he was appointed to the city job.
Documents released by the city Tuesday (March 29) in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Valley Indy — which sought all written communications between the city and school district in 2016 — offer some context to the dispute.
Two weeks before the tax board vote, the city’s director of constituent services, Richard Dziekan, reached out to the school district’s business administrator, James Gaskins, on behalf of Vaccaro, the chairman of the Aldermen’s finance subcommittee.
The letter sought the school district’s contracts, details of its budget, and a list of all employees, their salaries, and their job descriptions.
On Feb. 25, Nimons sent Vaccaro a text message saying the city was not allowed to have some of the information. The text also asked if all the city’s departments had been asked to supply the same data.
The week after Nimons’ dismissal, Vaccaro emailed Schools Superintendent Carol Merlone asking for a meeting to discuss possible savings on insurance. He attached a release authorizing a broker to evaluate the school district’s coverage and asked her to sign it.
Nimons, who was CC’d on Vaccaro’s email, replied 26 minutes later saying “Not at all until we have legal and possibly full discussion with our BOE.”
“This is not, in my opinion, the normal way things are done,” Nimons wrote.
In a letter dated the same day sent to the school district’s insurance carrier, Nimons wrote that “It has come to our attention that USI (the insurance broker working with the city) is attempting to gain unauthorized access to the Ansonia Board of Education private information with Anthem.”
“Their request for access to our information is NOT authorized and any information should NOT be released,” Nimons wrote, adding that only the school board’s insurance broker should be consulted.
Three days later, Nimons followed up with a letter to Phil Tripp, the president of the Board of Aldermen, saying the school board had concerns about the city’s request.
“In recent months, the administration has made a number of attempts to invade the sovereignty of the schools,” Nimons wrote, citing Vaccaro’s email to Merlone.
Nimons wrote that school officials wanted to be cooperative in sharing information, “provided it is a two-way street” — and provided the Aldermen would respect the school board’s independence.
A flurry of emails went back and forth between city and school officials in the two weeks after Vaccaro’s initial request to Merlone.
What Now?
After Thursday’s meeting, Nimons said the school district had sent the city the documentation it wanted that afternoon.
He asked the city’s Aldermen to fund the school board’s request fully, predicting layoffs if they don’t. He noted that the school boarded voted in February to put more than 40 teachers on notice that their contracts may not be renewed for next year.
The step has become a yearly routine.
“We have a responsibility to educate kids,” Nimons said. “When they don’t give you the money to educate the kids, what are you going to do?”
Vaccaro said Tuesday that the Aldermen will meet with officials from other city departments at workshop meetings next week before having a firmer idea of what the overall city budget — and the amount allocated to the school district — will be.
He noted that school officials pointed out during their presentation that more than two out of every three public school students qualify for free and reduced price lunch, an indicator of poverty.
He argued that’s also an indicator that the city’s residents can’t be asked to pay higher property taxes.
“That’s a pretty telling number,” Vaccaro said.
