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Politics & Government

East Windsor Schools and Town Present FY13 Budgets to Board of Finance

Combined proposed budgets total $34.98 million, an increase of $1.84 million over FY12.

On Wednesday the East Windsor Board of Finance received a more complete picture of the proposed 2012-13 budgets for both the Town and school district.

With about 247 employees district wide, East Windsor Public Schools is the largest public employer in town, said Board of Education Chair Christopher Mickey. Employees did not receive a pay or step increase in the current fiscal year, and for the coming year certified, classified, and administrator contracts have been kept to a 1 percent increase plus steps, he said.

"As a district, I can say that our employees are helping us out," Mickey said.

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Superintendent of Schools Theresa M. Kane said that while salaries and benefits represent about 75 percent of the school budget, grants funded some of those obligations, this year to the tune of $641,993. She said the EWPS will need to absorb the loss of the Education Jobs Fund grant for $160,211.

"The majority of grants are not one-shot grants," Kane said. She said while there is an expectation for a modest decrease in a Title I grant, which pays for special education personnel and one to one paraprofessionals, it would be highly unlikely for other federal grants to be cut substantially or disappear. She added that the BOE does not expect to receive State and Federal revenue information until June.

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Kane said the public school district is facing some critical issues. The district is among the 30 lowest performing in Connecticut and the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) has placed the high school on their warning list for inadequate funding and facility. And while the high school was removed from warning in the area of curriculum, the continued designation could result in EWHS losing accreditation, possibly affecting future higher education options for graduating seniors as well as property values.

There is a sliver lining.

Kane said student performance is improving and steps have been taken to improve the instructional focus for students at all three schools. She said it will be important for the administration to better use their resources, taking existing dollars and doing more with it.

"We're being smarter with our dollars. We're being smarter with our resources. That's our challenge," Kane said.

Part of the BOE's effort to improve student performance includes the implementation of full-day kindergarten in next year and the elimination of the preschool waiting list. Currently, families have the opportunity to enroll their children in preschool for a fee of $1,000 a year, which pays for the salaries of the preschool teachers.

"I can't emphasize enough the need for preschool programming," Kane said. "If you don't have early intervention, the problems snowball and the needs snowball," she said.

Board member William Raber concurred.

"[Pre-K] is really going to change and affect test scores," Raber said. He recommended checking the progress of those students who were enrolled in Pre-K three years down the road.

While not in the budget, both Kane and Mickey called to the finance board’s attention the need for capital improvements. Among the projects on the request list were the removal and replacement of underground oil tanks at the high school, removal of the oil tank and conversion of boiler to gas at Broad Brook School and replacing sinks and countertops in 15 elementary school classrooms.

"We need to take care of our buildings," Mickey said, alluding to Nathan Hale School in Manchester, which was recently approved for closure in September due to deteriorating physical conditions.

On the town side, First Selectwoman Denise Menard said the Board of Selectmen is proposing modest increases of 4.78 percent for public works and 2.38 percent for sanitation and waste removal costs. A 12.37 percent increase in miscellaneous expenditures, Menard said, is due to there being little room in contingency for unexpected expenses, such as for shoveling snow off roofs, or picking up branches [from the October storm] or cleaning up after a hurricane.

"We need to be responsible for maintaining our aging buildings, infrastructure and equipment," Menard said, referring to a 30.05 percent increase for the capital improvement plan.

The proposed town budget includes no new positions for the next fiscal year. On the Board of Education side, only one new position is proposed but no new dollars to pay for positions are proposed. Rather, the BOE plans to swap out dollars from eliminated programming.

The proposed budgets are expected to impact property taxes by increasing the annual tax on a property assessed at $100,000 by $149, and a property assessed at $200,000 by $298, based on 2011 average home assessed values.

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