Parents & Students Say No More Cuts to Board of Ed Budget

March 15, 2010

Parents came out to the Board of Finance budg et public hearing imploring that the already-trim Board of Education budget not be reduced any more — with one Darienite even suggesting raising taxes to help offset the budgetary woes.

While Tuesday night’s Board of Finance public hearing covered the entire town 2010-11 budget, the focus remained on the Board of Ed. The Board of Finance originally suggested an increase of 3.5 percent to the Board of Education’s budget. With that suggestion, the Board of Ed cut as many corners as possible, including instituting a fee for extracurricular activities — including sports — but still needed an extra one percent of wiggle room — asking for a 4.5 percent budget increase.

Carolyn Langelier spoke first, adorned with a “Support Our Students” sticker, as co-chairman of the Council of Darien School Parents.

“The Board of Education had an especially arduous task this year of working within a lean budget that was saddled with unexpected and unavoidable costs… and increase of 3.5 percent, which was your guidance to the Board of Education, is just not enough to cover these locked-in costs while maintaining the integrity of our students’ education,” Langelier said.

She also cited the “tough decision and creative solutions” that the Board of Ed took in its budget deliberations, including limiting increases in teachers, introducing the student activity fee or “parent tax,” redistricting at Holmes School, and cutting the technology budget.

“We respectfully ask that we not let our children bear the brunt of our budgetary woes any more than what the Board of Education has proposed… there is no more room for cuts,” Langelier said in closing.

Representing the high school students, Kathy Finnega n spoke to overcrowding at Darien High School and its impacts on the budget.

Finnegan read a quote from the movie “Field of Dreams”, which stated “if you build it he will come.” She transformed this into the theme of the high school’s woes — “yes we built it and they keep coming,” she said.

“Next year, district enrollment will reach a peak not seen since 1976 and Darien High School has increased for 18 consecutive years,” Finnegan said. She raised concerns over the high school budget, staffing and class size, and the quality of the education becoming at risk.

“The budget cannot sustain further cuts without changing the overall experience at DHS,” Finnegan added.

Her statements were supported by DHS junior Nicole Granath, who spoke to how the increased enrollment personally affected her classroom experience.

Granath referenced her AP U.S. History class, which currently has 27 students. That is much higher than the recommended 10 to 20 in an AP course.

“It’s had many effects on the quality of education,” Granath said. Some of the adverse effects she mentioned were less review time, fewer comments on papers because of teachers’ time constraints, fewer kids commenting in class, and the teacher not being able to form personal connections with each student.

Granath also called the student activities fee a “tragedy,” as it might prevent students from joining clubs or playing sports.

“Please accept the budget that the Board of Ed has submitted, because I truly believe that any further cuts will have truly detrimental effects on the quality of education and life for the Darien student,” she said.

& #x0A;Ann Reed represented the middle school level and discussed how any further budget cuts would adversely affect Middlesex Middle School.

“Middle school is a crucial time for students and the formula we have at Middlesex works, and works very well,” Reed said. “Are we really in a position where we want our children to be in overcrowded classrooms with overloaded teachers and with no outlets after school?”

Jessica Anderson spoke on behalf of the five town elementary schools, with a focus on teachers and aides in the classroom. “The Board of Ed has wisely tried to spare our teachers and aides from the cutting board, but if they are asked to make more cuts, they may not have that luxury,” Anderson said. “Additional cuts will undoubtedly affect teachers.”

Concerns regarding the budget’s affect on special education in town were brought forward by Laura Grozier.

“The special education budget as it currently exists has not only no room for further cuts, but as it stands presents some real concerns in terms of impact on the general education environment,” Grozier said. “We respectfully urge you to see that the special education experience is not being maintained and the repercussions of this decision may be far reaching and ultimately cost-increasing.”

After hearing from those representatives, Jerre Skeats of 25 Highfield Lane came to the lectern with a suggestion.

“In my six years of attending budget public hearings, I have never heard anyone come to the podium and say ‘don’t raise my taxes because I can’t afford it’… maybe we need to pay more taxes,” Skeats said.

“I am happy to do that for my kids’ education and for my neighbors kids’ education, because we are not wasting the m oney, we are using it well,” she added.

Following those statements, the Board of Finance public hearing closed. The statements from the public will be used during the final weeks of budgetary process. The finance board is expected to make decision by mid-April.

Should the finance board decide to reduce the school budget, it would return to the Board of Ed, which has responsibility to make the specific cuts. After the finance and school boards come to an agreement, the budget is sent on to the Representative Town Meeting for final approval in May.