NORWICH BOARD OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS
BUDGET DELIBERATIONS
THURSDAY, JANUARY 13, 2005
7:00 P.M., MARION CROSS SCHOOL LIBRARY
Minutes
Present: Board Members Vitt, Kaplan, Sachsse, Cheney, Gray, Administrators Gersen, Aubin, Weissmann, Edson; and several members of the public
1. Call to order
Chair Sachsse called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m.
2. Report of Chair
· Chair Sachsse announced that the third Budget Hearing and Adoption meeting for the Norwich School District will take place on Thursday, January 20, 2005 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Marion Cross School Library. The next regular meeting of the Norwich Board of School Directors will take place on Wednesday, February 2, 2005 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Marion Cross School Library.
· Chair Sachsse announced that a hearing for the Dresden School District Budget will be held on Tuesday, January 18, 2005 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Marion Cross School Library.
· Chair Sachsse announced that there are two (2) Board seats up for reelection in March (Linda Gray’s and Geoffrey Vitt’s). Both seats are three-year terms. Filings take place any time from now until January 24, 2005. Candidates must present a petition with 35 signatures to the Norwich Town Clerk.
· Chair Sachsse announced that the Dresden School District has filings dates beginning on Wednesday, January 12 through 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, February 1. Filing for School District Officers can be done with either the School District Clerk, Deborah Carter, or at the SAU Office, 45 Lyme Road, Room 207, Hanover. Positions open are:
Moderator – one year
Clerk – one year
Treasurer – one year
Auditor – three years
3. Public Input
Irv Thomae encouraged individual Norwich Board members to bring the revenues from the athletic fee fund into the Dresden main budget.
Rob Edson, Marion Cross School Principal, reported that the Marion Cross students are conducting a coin drive for Tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia, and that their involvement has been very high.
He also reported that two faculty members are expecting babies. Finally he noted the school has received a restricted, anonymous donation of $500 for special education and asked the Board to accept this gift if possible.
Mary Sachsse moved and Deb Kaplan seconded a motion to accept the restricted gift of $500 for special education. The motion passed unanimously.
Wayne Gersen, SAU #70 Superintendent, distributed ‘Education Legislative Report No. 1” and drew members’ attention to page 5. The “Institutions Committees” will consider funding for capital projects and set priorities for the state’s capital construction programs. A board member pointed out that Alice Emmons, a Windsor County representative, Chairs the House Institution Committee.
4. Business Requiring Discussion
A. 2005-06 Budget Presentation
Assistant Superintendent for Business, John Aubin, distributed two budget update documents. He informed the Board that he had misspoken at the Dresden meeting on January 11th. The district’s education spending per equalized pupil is 129.5% of the statewide average, which was under the excess spending threshold by $30,568. Mr. Aubin highlighted three areas in the budget update: equalized pupils, special education revenues and common level of appraisal. The number of equalized pupils will be set no later than January 15th and is now projected to fall to 695.82 rather than the earlier estimate of 703.25. He reported that Norwich would receive $403,613 from special education expense reimbursements as opposed to the previously reported $409,378. The common level of appraisal has been finalized by the state at 108.21% and not 105% as previously estimated. Mr. Aubin clarified several points of information for board members and the public. Mr. Edson suggested that he and Mr. Aubin provide Board members with further explanations of the enrollment data, as those numbers are especially important for the Norwich budget.
Mr. Aubin responded to several questions related to the Education Spending per Equalized Pupil document presented. He explained that while the ideal is to keep changes in budget under the inflation rate, it was impossible to attain that due to the lag time between the actual student census and the state’s response to the changes. He also pointed out that while the income level in Norwich is level, the per pupil spending is rising.
Mr. Aubin presented a document outlining the five-year forecast for changes in the Norwich district. He explained the document has shortcomings and limitations but felt it was a helpful planning tool.
Board members thanked Mr. Aubin for the updates and especially for the 5-year forecast. Members felt it served as an excellent basis for year-to-year comparison and it identified trends to watch. A member of the public pointed out that the model is helpful because it reminds the public that there is a business side to educating students.
Members of the public asked Mr. Edson to explain the projected reduction in French instruction for FY 2005-06. He explained that the reduction affects how many times the 4th grade receives instruction each week. The change will not cause the overall contact time for Marion Cross students in grades 4-6 to be lower than the contact time for Hanover grade 4-6 students. Members of the public also discussed whether Norwich is doing everything possible to maximize its revenues. There was considerable interest in investigating the extent to which the Marion Cross School markets itself to the community. Mr. Aubin suggested that the district could revisit the issue of charging for use of the Marion Cross facilities.
Chair Sachsse asked Board members and the public to focus on areas of the budget that may need change since the adoption of the budget is scheduled for next week. Since Board members and the public continue to have questions about maximizing revenue, it will be an agenda item for the next regular meeting.
B. School District Warning
Superintendent Gersen presented the Norwich School District Warning Articles. He explained that the articles were the same as the ones presented the previous week except that the article concerning school breakfast had been struck. Board members discussed the reserved funds and whether there is a need for a special warning article to address necessary action should the fund reach $102,000.
5. Executive Session
There being no business requiring executive session, none was called.
6. Adjournment
Deb Kaplan moved and Margaret Chaney seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:34 p.m.The motion passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 8:34 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Judith B. Csatari
Substitute, Recording Secretary |
