As Seymour approaches its fourth referendum for the proposed school budget, Board of Education members Tuesday met with members of the press and public to answer any lingering questions about the proposal.
Despite an information campaign by the Board of Education this year about its budget, the public still had questions about where the budget money goes in the district — specifically how much administrators get.
“What actually is spent per child, per year, K through 12?” resident George Andrews asked during the press conference Tuesday.
The answer, according to Board of Education chairman Yashu Putorti: Roughly $12,000.
“How much of this cost is actually spent on the students, as in, how much of that money actually gets into the classroom?” Andrews asked.
The question struck a nerve, because it’s one that is often asked, and one Board of Education members feel is based on a fundamental misunderstanding about the way the education system works.
“All of the money is going to educate children. All of it,” said Fred Stanek, vice chairman of the Board of Education.
“I know that is an argument that people often make that money is going to salaries and particular people do not want to spend money on administrators,” Stanek said.
“But all of the money goes to students, because every individual who is a staff member, as well as every book, every computer, every piece of software, every pen, every desk and chair, is there for the benefit of the students.”
About 5.8 percent of the district’s total budget goes to administrators’ salaries, Putorti said, trying to answer Andrews’ question.
Putorti said cutting out any administrators isn’t feasible, and won’t necessarily help the bottom line, because of union seniority. Plus, the district has already worked to trim the number of administrators, Putorti said.
Click play on the video, by resident Frank Loda, to see the entire conversation.
Budget Vote
Residents will vote on the $30.39 million school budget proposal at a daylong referendum on June 14. The referendum is held at the town’s community center at 20 Pine Street, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Voters already approved the town side of the budget.
The school budget proposal has failed three times so far, and been trimmed each subsequent time.
The current proposal represents a 2 percent increase over current spending.
Click here to read everything the Valley Indy has written about the Seymour budget.
Over the past three referendums, residents have debated school spending — some saying the district is falling behind after several years of flat funding, others saying the district spends too much money on administration and should learn to work with less.
Click here to read some of the comments on the Valley Indy Facebook page.
But the bottom line, Putorti said, is programs will likely have to be cut under the current proposal.
Putorti urged voters to approve the budget at the referendum Thursday.
“Our students deserve our support, and any additional cuts will certainly set the district back further.” Putorti said.
To help residents make a more informed decision, the Board of Education has collected data from the district and other similar districts, and put together reports about how Seymour compares. Click here to download the documents from the Board of Education website.
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The information includes:
- Seymour in 2010 – 2011 spent about $11,750 per student each year. The district ranked 158th out of 169 districts in the state in per-pupil spending.
- 80 percent of the district’s total budget is spent on all salaries.
- Seymour is consolidating two elementary schools, Chatfield and LoPresti, and expects to save about $353,000 as a result.
- The regular transportation line item is increasing by about $20,000, Putorti said. But what is not obvious by that line item is the $100,000 cost the district avoided by re-scheduling all the bus routes. Because LoPresti has about 80 walkers who will need to take a bus to the new elementary school next year, the district faced the possibility of needed two new school buses next year, Putorti said. Because of the new bus routes, the district will have the same number of buses next year, saving about $100,000 in potential costs.
Putorti’s entire statement is posted below.
