Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009

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Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
Brookfield Board of Education20082009 Budget
Discussion
Supporting Our Children In Challenging Times
Presented to the Board of Finance March 26, 2008
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Response to BOF Request

• The Brookfield Board of Finance has asked the
  Board of Education what a 1.1 increase over the
  current budget would look like.
• In response, the Board of Education immediately
  scheduled a special meeting to discuss the
  request.
• An increase of 1.1 4.9 less than the cost of
  moving existing staff and programs forward
  would force a serious reduction in the districts
  ability to provide services to all of the towns
  children.

Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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Current Challenges

• For the second year in a row, the district has
  provided more services to a more diverse and
  challenging student body with both fewer
  certified and non-certified staff. The cumulative
  effect of just the last three years has been an
  overall reduction in staff of 22.38 positions
  8.48 of them full time teachers.
• Special education placements and mandated costs
  have increased dramatically.
• Changing town demographics have resulted in a
  rapid increase in the English Language Learner
  (ELL) population.
• Government reimbursements continue to diminish,
  while the requirements increase.
• Remediation and support demands continue to
  increase.

Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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Anticipated Challenges

• NEASC will need to be notified of significant
  reductions in staff/programs
• NCLB goals are becoming more stringent while
  resources to address are diminishing
• Issues with at-risk behaviors including
  illegal use of prescription drugs, alcohol, etc.
  are becoming more complex in all school
  districts nationwide, including ours.
• While operational costs will be mitigated where
  possible, special education placements will not
  decrease.
• The number of ELL students will continue to grow
  at a rate far faster than overall population
  growth of the town.
• Staff at the high school is now beginning to talk
  about increasing racial/diversity tensions.
• If after-school activities are eliminated, the
  towns children will have more unsupervised free
  time, leading to increased discipline emotional
  issues for the schools and the community to deal
  with.

Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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What would a 1.1 increase mean?

• The Administration presented one scenario to the
  BOE of what an increase of this magnitude could
  look like.
• While the BOE has not taken action, it did
  discuss this scenario.
• What follows is not set in stone, but is a view
  presented by the districts administrative team
  of the scope of impact a 1.1 increase could
  have.
• Please keep in mind that much discussion would
  take place before the BOE would approve line item
  specifics, and community input will continue to
  be sought before final decisions are made.

Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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A 1.1 increase scenario
Scenario A 4.59 increase Scenario B
1.1 increase
Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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A 1.1 increase scenario
Scenario A 4.59 increase Scenario B
1.1 increase
This scenario shows a reduction in existing staff
of more than 20 FTEs. While the BOE discussed
different reduction scenarios (more reductions in
admin, clerical, curriculum etc.), there are
serious issues with all options that would need
further exploration before the BOE could act.
Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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BOE Discussion
The Board of Education discussed the 1.1
scenario at length.This scenario includes
reduction of existing staff by 20.3 FTEs,
elimination of co-curricular and after-school
sports programs, elimination of talented gifted
as well as arts programs, larger class sizes,
elimination or reduction of curriculum work,
further reductions in supplies / textbooks /
repair / remediation / guidance / technology /
substitutes / more. The Board of Education
discussed options to add programs and/or teaching
positions back in by a variety of means,
including reducing staff in areas including
administration, clerical, curriculum. As there
was not sufficient time to research the effects
of such changes, the Board of Education provides
the Board of Finance this 1.1 scenario as one
view of how the schools could look at this level
of funding. An increase of 1.1 would, in the
view of the Board of Education, place the
district in an unsustainable position. The Board
of Education does not support an increase of this
size.
Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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Class Sizes

• The School financial system identifies a certain
  class of employees (covered by a single contract)
  as Teachers. This classification includes
  necessary educational support positions that go
  far beyond classroom teachers. If you simply take
  the number of employees covered by this single
  contract and divide it into total enrollment, you
  will not get an accurate view of actual class
  sizes. The class sizes listed in the previous
  presentation are actual class sizes.

Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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Classroom Teacher Attendance
Through the first 129 days of this school year
(71.67 of the 180 days of instruction),
Brookfield schools has had 8 teachers on various
levels of long-term leave. The following figures
include absences for these individuals.
Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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Productivity

• The District has undertaken many initiatives to
  control costs and increase productivity. Heres a
  snapshot of some of these efforts.
• Re-structuring of administration at TSO
  combining Business Technology
• Superintendents challenge to score in the top
  25 of our DRG in standardized testing
• Exploring new schedule at BHS that would increase
  student classroom time by more than 80 hours/year
  while creating new professional development time
• Physical management training (CES) resulting in
  fewer students needing outside agency support for
  behavioral issues
• Computer generated report cards saves time,
  paper, printing costs
• Progress reports via email to eliminate postage
• Begun discussion with other districts on
  feasibility of creating regional alternative
  school
• Have aligned bus schedules with non-public
  schools
• Tracking employee absences
• Requiring employees to produce marriage
  certificate to qualify for benefits
• Moved data warehouse internally
• Have begun exploration of green technology
• Continue to pursue consortium purchasing
  arrangements
• Student performance data viewed used
  extensively by staff supporting data-driven
  decision making
• Enhancements to the New World financial system
  will allow for efficiencies in reporting going
  forward

Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009
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Request
We respectfully ask the Board of Finance to
consider the value to our students and to the
entire town of providing adequate resources, and
allow the towns residents the opportunity to
vote on a budget that will sustain opportunities
and support for our children.
Supporting Our Children In Challenging Times
Board of Education Budget Discussion 20082009