Schools
UPDATED: It’s Looking Like Full Day Kindergarten will Be a Reality for Newtown
Additional identification of reductions is enough for BOE members to feel they can move forward with full day kindergarten.
Update: The Newtown Board of Education voted no to renew the superintendent's contract on Tuesday night.
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Board of Education Chair Debbie Leidlein has been working with Business Director Ron Bienkowski and Superintendent Janet Robinson to identify areas where additional reductions could be made in accounts.
Items identified since last Thursday's meeting as a result of further analysis in relationship to what is being spent in the current fiscal year include the following
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Middle School Moving Up Ceremony ($4200)
Unemployment ($20,000)
Noncertified Salary adjustment Turnover Savings ($15,000)
Non-certified Extra Work - District ($20,000)
B&G Contracted Services ($5,000)
Postage at the High School ($2,000)
Benefits Adjustment ($15,000)
These items along with all previously identified items can be seen in the Board of Educations Potential Budget Adjustments hand-out which is uploaded to this article.
After these adjustments it was noted we were within $27,000 of what the Board of Education is calling our Same Services budget with the addition of full day kindergarten.
At this point of the discussion Superintendent Robinson added that each of the four elementary schools and Reed had each offered $3,000 from their activity fund and $2,000 from their general supply fund to essentailly close the gap.
Concerens were expressed by BOE members that accounts were so tight in this budget that unexpected items really put meeting the budget in jeporady.
BOE member Keith Alexander felt really positive to say the district was moving forward. While others had concern about the budget being so tight each felt it was important for the school district to implement full day kindergarten in the upcoming year. The discussion was based on the assumption that the budget referendum next Tuesday June 26 would pass.
At the beginning of the budget discussion the Board voted on making the adjustments in Sections B, C and D of the attached handout because they would happen regardless of what the budget was.
This vote offically made the decision for next year's bus schedule. All elementary schools will be on the same teir, Reed and Saint Rose would be on Tier 2 and the high school and middle school on Tier 1.
