7/31/2019 Seymour Pressconference

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On Thursday the taxpayers of Seymour will return to the polls for the 4th time to vote onthe proposed budget for the Board of Education. The initial budget adopted by the BOEwas a $1,535,742 increase or 5.15% over the prior fiscal years budget. Thatwould haveafforded the district the opportunity to not only retain all current services but also add afew needed positions at our middle and high schools, to decrease class sizes at the middleschool and enhance offerings at the high school. Additional details regarding thosepositions can be found within the budget roadmap documents that are available on our

district website.

It is the charge of any BOE to advocate for the educational needs of the students withintheir district. As a board we have spent many hours analyzing, discussing and scrutinizingthe line items of our budget to ensure that the funds that are allocated to the district viataxpayer funding are directed to the appropriate programs and those programs willprovide the maximum benefit to our students.

Over the past few years the BOE has worked very hard to respond to the economicchallenges that have been presented. We have eliminated positions in the administrativeranks, including an elementary principal last year and an assistant principal at the highschool a few years ago. The athletic director position was reduced to a part time positionand the administrative intern program has been suspended. Upon staff retirements not allpositions have been replaced. Contract negotiations brought zero wage increases in atleast one year of the last 3 year contract for all bargaining units. As of 2007, all newly hiredteachers no longer receive post retirement benefits. Virtually all non-union contracts alsoaccepted a 1 year wage freeze or donated their scheduled increase back to the district.With each contract negotiation, employee contributions towards insurance and co-payshave been increased.

And unfortunately over the years we have had to cut programs as well such as family and

consumer science and technology education at our middle school. In our proposed budget,5 positions have been eliminated as a result of the combining of the Chatfield and LoPrestiSchools. If the two schools had remained separate we likely would have needed anadditional teacher and would have had to retain those 5 positions as well. Several otherpositions have been reallocated resulting in a zero impact to the budget, for exampletransferring a special education teacher to the middle school as needs have shifted.

The board must also work within the framework of educational law and make certain thatas a district we are adhering to all state and federal mandates, whether they be funded orunfunded, pertain to students or staff, programs or paperwork that must be filed. Anypotential reductions in force must be thoughtfully approached and the impact to students

as well as the economics of those decisions must be completely understood.

The total increase for just contractual obligations the BOE faces this coming fiscal year isapproximately $1.5 million. With savings gained by combining the two elementary schools,energy, and health insurance, our required funding with no new programs is approximately$960,000. We are now faced with a 4th vote that would provide an additional $603,224 or a2.02% increase to the BOE budget over last fiscal year if it does in fact pass. What thismeans is that we have already lost the opportunity to fund any new programs for the

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upcoming year. The BOE must make cuts to cover the $357,000 gap. We have alreadydiscussed eliminating all new initiatives, deferring facility maintenance items and will nowneed to find additional areas to reduce in order to compensate for the $357,000 deficit infunding.

We have heard the comments, suggestions and requests of the public as to what they wouldlike the board to do. We understand that for many, even some parents, that financially, any

increase is viewed as too much. We have heard the pleas to reduce administration andincrease teachers and suggestions to cut benefits and pay. We have heard the requests toinstitute more programs in order to provide our students with as much enrichment aspossible, to prepare them for college or a career. We understand how important ourathletic programs are to not only our students but the community as well.

We acknowledge that it is the desire of many townspeople to eliminate an administrator.Yes, the BOE can elect to eliminate positions but not specific individuals. Administrativecosts account for a mere 5.8% of our overall budget. Our current administrative unioncontract allows for an eliminated administrator to bump back into the teaching ranks andfor that year keep their administrative salary. Reducing an administrator position wouldcause a beginning teacher to lose their position and only provide about $52,000 or .15% insavings in this fiscal year. The only way in which the full cost of an administrator could besaved is in the event of a voluntary resignation and a board action to not replace thatposition.

We would like nothing more than to be able to please all of you. However that is notpossible. As we continue to look toward the future we have begun discussions todetermine the feasibility of shared services with the town side of our government. Bycombining services like IT, facilities, grounds and maintenance in the future we believe wecan continue to become more efficient. All we can do at this point is continue to advocate

on behalf of the students in this district who deserve to go to school in safe, clean, 21

st

century facilities, who deserve to be provided with as many academic offerings andextracurricular clubs, activities and sports as possible, who deserve a quality teacher intheir classroom and those teachers deserve to have principals, support staff and thesuperintendent in the district there to support, empower and encourage them to lead ourstudents to success. And like it or not what they all deserve does not come for free.

Voter turnout has not been strong throughout this referendum process. As fellowtaxpayers any tax increase does affect us as well. As board members we volunteer our timeat no cost to the town. We serve because we feel it is important to give back to thecommunity and work diligently to continue to improve it. It is our sincere hope that

taxpayers and specifically those of us that are parents will cast a vote in favor of thisreduced budget amount on Thursday. Our students deserve our support and anyadditional cuts will certainly set the district back further not continue to move it forward.

Thank you. Mr. Stanek, the Vice Chairman of the BOE, and I will now entertain anyquestions that anyone might have.