January 17, 2008
Minutes
Filed subject to approval.
Present: Allan, Cohen, Katz, Maiorano, Treidel, Underberger
Administration: Fossbender, Mas, Sullivan, Fox-Santora, Doak, Merrill, Dekle
Others: a representative of the Easton Courier
Dr. Katz called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm.
Dr. Fossbender read a statement he emailed to the Easton Selectmen and members of the Board of Finance.
“The headline in this
week’s Easton Courier pertaining to preliminary discussions about the 2008-2009
school budget, which took place at Tuesday’s meeting of the Easton Board of
Education, reads “Board Eyes 12.6% Increase.” This is a false statement. The school district administrators and I have
no idea how the reporter calculated such a per cent increase. In fact, the
point of departure that was identified during the preliminary discussion at
Tuesday’s meeting was 7.84%, with the clear understanding that much work had to
be done, including several reductions, before the proposed budget is finalized
for review by the board of finance.”
PUBLIC COMMENT
Bob Lavelle, HKMS Band Teacher: commented on the band program at HKMS & SSES, and support for the increase in the band teacher position at HKMS to full time. Currently the band teacher is at HKMS four days a week and at SSES one day. He added that the current band program is not on an equal par with the other fine arts programs.
DISCUSSION ESTIMATED
COST AND EXPENDITURES FOR 2008-2009 SCHOOL YEAR
The revised base budget increase, which includes fixed budget drivers, is 5.09%. The administration presented a list of improvements & innovations for consideration by the board.
Social Studies & Math textbooks, $35,080
Powerschool 31,000
SSES Technology Replacement 56,000
SPED, increase .4 Autism teacher 29,905
SPED, increase in outside services 28,747
SSES, add .5 Social worker 48,961
HKMS, increase in capital items 18,800
HKMS, .5 increase in maintenance 11,500
HKMS, increase .5 media assistant 10,373
SSES, increase .4 writing specialist 44,342
Curriculum increase 7,673
Increase in administration (legal fees) 4,800
SSES, increase in maintenance 9,830
HKMS, .5 increase in maintenance 11,500
SSES, add 1 P/T summer custodial worker 2,750
SPED, increase in Aide at HKMS 30,013
Adding all of the items on the list would take the budget increase to 7.83%.
Kindergarten enrollment: Mrs. Fox-Santora stated that the projected Kindergarten enrollment is 94 and keeping the six sections would result in classes of 15. She believes that one section could be eliminated to bring the class size to an acceptable 18 students per class. She cautioned that should the enrollment exceed 105, the sixth section would be needed. The reduction of one section of Kindergarten would be a savings of an estimated $60,000, and would reduce the base budget increase from 5.09% to 4.66%
Board members discussed the items on the list and priority ranking.
Dr. Fossbender commented that additional information will be available by mid-February, including possible health insurance savings, retirements, and the potential savings from a unified bus system. The unified bus system was discussed further. A survey will be developed by Dr. Underberger working with Mrs. Sullivan. The survey will be sent out to parents via the Listserv.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Unidentified:
question regarding unified bus system, was this successful in the past?
Response:
Maggie Caldwell, Easton Courier Editor: Ms. Caldwell apologized for the error in this week’s edition of the newspaper regarding the budget increase. She will run a correction next week.
BOARD MEMBER COMMENT
Mr. Maiorano suggested the building committee for the
ADJOURNMENT
Motion: move to adjourn the January 17, 2008
meeting. Allan, Underberger.
The meeting adjourned at 9:25 pm
Respectfully submitted,
Al Treidel, Board of Education Secretary
Recorded by Mary Maday