Faced with rising costs and a growing number of unprepared, poverty-stricken children, the Board of Education unanimously backed a $103.3 million spending request that would make holding the line on property taxes virtually impossible.
The proposed school budget approved Wednesday would hike education spending by 7.7 percent over this year’s level in order to cover rising salaries, soaring energy costs, a growing special education burden and new efforts aimed at bolstering the academic achievement of struggling students.
“I do hope the city leaders support us in this endeavor because it’s very, very necessary,” said Karen Vibert, a school board member elected last year.
The city’s Board of Finance will review the school request within weeks, but at least some of its nine members have indicated they won’t agree to such a large increase when so many taxpayers are facing economic burdens already.
Chris Wilson, another school board member, said that administrators did a good job of keeping the increase down. He pointed out that other towns in the region are asking for hikes of 10 percent or more.
He said he hopes that finance commissioners and the City Council will offer “a favorable reception” for a much-needed increase in the school budget.
Wilson, a Republican, said that he figures the community can either pay for education today or it can pay later for the social problems created by residents who might have done better with more support in school.
“It’s either pay me now or pay me later,” Wilson said.
Superintendent Philip Streifer made much the same pitch.
“We view this as a continuing investment in the students and Bristol’s future,” he said, pointing out that existing programs have proven their value by bolstering test scores.
But with No Child Left Behind standards about to rise again, the district has to increase its efforts if it wants to meet the federally mandated student achievement levels for reading, writing and math.
“We have a lot of work to do,” Streifer said. “We’re going to have to do more to meet these rising targets.”
Susan Moreau, the deputy superintendent, said that 39 percent of Bristol’s elementary school students now come from underprivileged backgrounds that leave many of them unprepared to do well in class.
“To educate children in poverty, you should be spending considerably more,” Moreau said.
“Our concern is ever increasing needs for children at ever increasing costs,” she said.
Bristol spends less per student than most of the municipalities in the region as well as similar cities across the state. Streifer said it would take many millions of dollars to make up the funding gap that currently exists.
The school budget includes $79 million for salaries and benefits, which is up 4.7 percent over the current fiscal year, which began July 1.
It will take another $3.3 million to pay for utilities and gasoline, about 18 percent more than the current allocation.
Special education costs for students who can’t be educated in town will total nearly $5 million.
On the plus side, state aid is expected to rise nearly $2 million this year, which covers a portion of the increase. School officials said that if Bristol used all of the school aid hikes in recent years for education, there would be enough money to cover the spending level they seek.
The superintendent’s budget presentation to the Board of Education may be available by noon Thursday here on the Bristol Blog. Streifer said he would send it in the morning.
The presentation provides more details, graphs and other data to support the budget request.
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Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
8 comments:
Again, I would feel better about an increase in their budget if I knew what they decreased on.
great that education gets more funding than the rest of the budget but when do they ever say "enough"; always seems that we taxpayers are always the ones crying "uncle" in the name of youth.
if we can't afford to live here, won't make a difference how well off our future generation is to us.
80% of the budget goes for teachers pay and benefits packages .
Solution ..... evaluate and keep 50% of the best teachers and double class sizes .
win win
Well, my salary didn't go up 7.7 %
In fact, over the years when that wonderful Fortune 500 company that I've been working for, does grant a raise, the increase NEVER matches the spending of the school system of Bristol.
In fact, my salary increases over the years have barely matched the overall inflation rate!
Just another overburdened, tax slave, whose retirement is being stolen away bit by bit, because salary increases, haven't keep pace with the excessive tax burdens imposed by government.
What I am able to save, is routinely garnished by big spending governmnet that has now created a class of people (2 out of 3) who are who are unprepared to retire.
Steve Collins, why don't you do a story and inform us all.
List the yearly increases sought by by the BOE for the last 7 years, and compare those increases to the average salary increases garnered my the vast majority of average workers and families who live in Bristol!
A comparison of salary increases of top city administrators, and those of the vast majority of workers, homeowners and families would also be enlightening.
Do you think that Artie will cut staff, especially any of his many friends???
That is why we need a Town Manager, and not a COO!!
1:35
Cause he votes on the BOE budget too, and it all comes out of the taxpayers pocket.
Including his hiring of his friends.
Plainville is facing a potential huge tax increase primarily driven by a 6.9% education increase.
The majority of the increase is due to federal mandates that require the local districts to add special programs and positions to address special needs and NCLB deficiencies.
The federal government and the state government are not providing the money. The 10th amendment is being abused in the name of over-reaching federal policies.
It's time to bring education back to the states, towns and cities and get Washington out of it.
As more and more students are identified as needing special services or more groups are labeled as academically at-risk, program control will be removed from the people who pay for it and instead be controlled by politicians in Washington looking to redistribute wealth and knowledge.
State agencies should not be playing games with one city or town at the expense of others who have more attractive special services such as the case with Bristol receiving state placements of students requiring expensive (unfunded) services.
While I tend to be on the conservative side financially, these increases don't seem out of control, especially with other increases across the state. A little extra spending on education is never a bad idea.
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