Upcoming budget dates.
ANSONIA – A subcommittee of the city’s school board voted Thursday (May 15) to recommend about $403,000 in program cuts in advance of a third budget referendum scheduled for May 23.
The new proposed school budget is $39,157,414.05. That’s a 4.2 percent increase over the current year budget – but $403,305 less than the budget voters rejected at two previous referendums.
Members of the Board of Aldermen are scheduled to host a budget hearing over Zoom at 6 p.m. Monday (May 19) and then, at a public meeting immediately thereafter, vote to send the budgets to referendum.
The cuts proposed by the board of education’s finance subcommittee range from schoolroom supplies, to building maintenance, to after-school clubs and sports programs. Here’s a full list of the proposed cuts that were discussed May 15:
$81,680 from new AP math & science textbooks,
$55,000 from building maintenance and repairs,
$52,000 from technology upgrade purchases,
$48,752 from a full-time lead security officer position,
$45,000 by eliminating all middle school sports,
$28,000 from student supplies, such as crayons, paper, musical instruments and art materials,
$25,000 by eliminating high school junior varsity (JV) sports,
$23,303.70 from a subscription to the Reflex Math service,
$19,752 from elementary and middle school after-school programs,
$13,800 from middle school language arts consumables, and
$11,120 from subscriptions to online math programs.
TOTAL: $403,407.70
Ansonia Superintendent of Schools Joseph DiBacco said the proposed cuts were chosen to minimize classroom impact. He said there are no plans for layoffs at this time, but that could change if voters reject the budget May 23.
“We’ve had to make some real decisions as far away from the classroom as possible,” DiBacco said in the meeting.
Public speakers in the meeting broadly supported the schools’ requests. Multiple speakers discussed the need to get the word out to voters ahead of the next referendum.
“It just sounds like we’re preaching to the choir, because those of us who are here are supportive of the board of education. Our goal should be: How do we get out to those individuals who are not online, who may not have the ability to be online?” said Diane Stroman, a former Alderwoman and former vice president of TEAM, Inc.
Stroman said that school PTOs could help spread awareness of the upcoming vote.
The next referendum vote is scheduled for 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday, May 23 at the Ansonia Armory (5 State St).
State Aid Discussed In Meeting
School board president Richard Bshara said in the school board meeting that state education policies make it difficult for Ansonia’s schools to make ends meet.
The bulk of state aid comes in the form of ECS (short for ‘education cost sharing’) grants. ECS money is determined by a formula established decades ago to try and make up the difference between what a community can afford to pay and what it costs to run a school system.
According to a state funding chart, Ansonia’s ECS funding has increased from $16,722,772 in fiscal year 2019, to an estimated $20,315,782 in fiscal year 2025.
However, some of that money comes with conditions. Ansonia receives “alliance district” funding as part of its ECS grant. The alliance district grant is part of the ECS funding for the 36 lowest-performing school districts in the state.
Alliance district money can only be used for school-reform efforts to improve student performance. Any spending has to be approved by the state.
The alliance district money cannot be used to replace local education funding, something the city tried unsuccessfully to do in 2018.
About $5.3 million – or 26 percent – of Ansonia’s ECS funding comes in the form of alliance grants. Bshara said in the meeting that the money should come with fewer strings attached.
“You can’t use it to pay for a teacher if you’re already paying for that teacher. You can’t use it to increase their salaries, or to buy insurance, or to buy electricity, or do anything that would be included in a normal operating budget that’s currently being done,” Bshara said.
Ansonia teachers’ union president Mathew Hough said that Ansonia’s ECS grant will likely be fully funded this year, and state advocacy efforts are ongoing to loosen the restrictions on Alliance money.
Mayor David Cassetti has argued since he took office that the ECS formula is not fair because it does not give enough money to economically-distressed cities.
Spending Increase Summary
The largest spending increases over last year’s school budget are as follows:
A $1,045,744 increase, or 40.5 percent, in student transportation, including out-of-district transportation costs,
$443,013.25, or 3.1 percent, in certified salary increases,
$144,099, or 9.1 percent, in purchased services,
$119,075.69, or 12.9 percent, in utility costs,
$110,236.46, or 3.4 percent, in tuition costs,
$83,394.88, or 2.0 percent, in non-certified salary increases, and
$57,072, or 1.0 percent, in employee benefit costs.
Click this link to read a summary of the proposed budget. The proposed budget numbers are in the furthest column to the right – “Budget for May 23rd Referendum.”
Click this link for a longer, more detailed proposed school budget.
Although the jump in student transportation costs – by far the largest in the budget – was not a major topic at Thursday’s meeting, school board officials have talked about it extensively in other meetings this year.
Federal law says students with needs whose education can’t be met locally have the option to go to out-of-district facilities. The home district picks up tuition and transportation costs. School districts all over the U.S. complain that the costs rise too rapidly for districts to keep up.
Bshara has said that past city budgets under budgeted for transportation costs, and that the schools have been consistently overspending their budgets as a result.
The Valley Indy reviewed the collective bargaining agreements for teachers and administrators.
According to those agreements, administrative staff are scheduled to receive 3.5 percent salary increases each year, while teachers are scheduled to receive salary increases of about $2,000 each year.
Click this link to view the schools’ union contracts.
Budget Process Made More Transparent Amid Referendum Votes
At Thursday’s meeting, Bshara stressed the need for better communication with the public, saying too many people didn’t understand school budget info. The need to get information to senior citizens was stressed several times during the meeting.
That’s a stark contrast from last year’s budget process, which lacked transparency. It was difficult to get school district officials to share budget documents or talk about their budget.
Details on that budget were not made public until June, about two weeks after the budget had already been adopted and finalized.
At the time, Bshara – who also works in the city’s finance office – said that the board of education is like other city departments, such as public works and the police department. He said keeping the budget behind closed doors allowed for greater communication between the schools and the city.
Last year and years prior, Cassetti’s administration violated the city charter’s budget deadlines, and would not provide the public with a copy of budgets until the mayor presented it at a meeting of the city’s tax board. City officials used the “draft” loophole in the state’s Freedom of Information Act to delay the release.
Budget meetings began earlier this year, with the city making a proposed budget public in February, and the school board following suit in March.
Another difference from last year? Both budgets require approval from voters via referendum.
The budget requires public referendum approval because of charter changes proposed by Cassetti’s administration and approved by voters in 2015.
The charter requires voter approval for any budget with an increase in‘net taxes to be collected’ of more than 3 percent. The most recently rejected budget included an increase of about 8.2 percent.
This is the first budget to require referendum approval since the charter changes were made. In past years, the Ansonia Board of Aldermen were able to approve and finalize a budget without a referendum, since the increases were smaller.
