$75,098,943 BOE Proposed Budget Facts and Comments

The following are some facts and comments regarding the Board of Education 2015 budget that I prepared for the taxpayers, residents and voters to consider. 

Note: Unfortunately, there was no detailed budget information available on the Board of Education website prior to the Public Hearing last night (2-20-14). This is cause for concern for residents, taxpayers and voters who are interested in transparency on the Board of Education. The 2015 Board of Education budget process to date has been disappointing at best. Especially when you consider that all the decisions have been made, and all the information supporting those decisions is not available.

Fact: The Board of Education is proposing a $75,098,943 budget. This is an increase of $1,436,228. The Superintendent has stated “Not a single program, not a single supply, not a single book is being eliminated from this budget.”

Fact: The Board of Education budget went up $1,017,215 in 2014. Combined with the proposed 2015 increase the total increase in just two years is $2,253,443. These are millions of tax payer dollars.

Fact: The Board of Education is also proposing $2,160,000 in Capital Improvement Projects which are IN ADDITION TO the $75,098,94 budget.

Fact: At a minimum Town Revenues are decreasing $2,300,000 due to the demolition of Pfizer Building 118. To date the 2015 town revenues are not available to understand the full scope of revenue decreases.

Fact: The Board of Education did not have a Zero increase budget in 2013. The Board of Education spent $1,500,000 dollars more than the approved amount due to “unexpected savings” from the health care account (please see the RTM Education Committee Meeting Minutes from 4-17-12 for documentation).

Fact: The Town of Groton spends more per student than surrounding towns as reported in the CT State Department of Education 2012-2013 Net Current Expenditure Per Pupil Chart.

Fact: Keeping Taxes Low, is at the top of the Groton On Line Survey List, which was published last November and reported in a local newspaper.

Fact: The Town of Groton has the highest paid teachers and administrators, not only in SE CT, but in comparable towns as well. This information is available in the ConnCAN Teacher Contract Database which was distributed last year by the Board of Education.

Fact: Financial Peril is common in the state. Nearly 40% of Connecticut residents, of which Groton residents are a part, are on the brink of financial calamity, according to a report released by the Corporation for Enterprise Development which was recently reported in a local newspaper.

Fact: In 2013 the Master Schedule List by Teachers provided by the Board of Education reveals many classes at Fitch High School that are “under utilized“. Meaning very low class sizes even when compared to the maximum enrollment number per class.

Fact: Six buildings at EB with a combined assessed value of $2.7 million dollars, that pay $68,290 in city and town taxes, are being considered for demolition. The Town is losing revenue.

Fact: In 2001 there were 5,844 students in Groton. In 2014 there were ONLY 4,755 students. That is a 20% decrease in enrollment. This information is available in the Board of Education Budget books. To date the enrollment projections for 2015 are not available

Fact: The Central Office Staff Salaries have seen increases of over 24% in the past 4 years, according to the Board of Education spreadsheet handed out last year. It is important that these salaries are not increased again this year.

Fact: The IB program costs $400,000 per year. Available statistics for 2005 to 2012 reveal classes with 3 to 6 students per class. Astonishingly, 5 students graduated from this program in 2012. This program is wasting taxpayer money.

The Groton Tax Payers cannot afford this budget. With household incomes on the decline, the Town of Groton and Board of Education need to provide the government and education system that the taxpayers can afford. There are so many areas in this budget that could and should be decreased. It is my hope that the Board of Education and Superintendent were provided with enough facts at the public hearing and will rework the 2015 budget to be fiscally responsible to the residents of Groton. With student enrollment decreasing EVERY YEAR there is no fiscally sound reason for another yearly increase to the Board of Education budget.

Superintendent Granier’s presentation of a $1,700,000 health care problem that the Board of Education is attempting resolve with $1,400,000, did not resonate with me. Every year the Town and the Board of Education use raising taxes as the way out instead of reducing operations. For the 2015 education budget, the Board of Education and Superintendent must support a budget which is at the Minimum Budget Requirement, allowed by the State of Connecticut.

A level services budget where “Not a single program, not a single supply, not a single book is being eliminated from this budget.” as stated by the Superintendent, is not acceptable or sustainable. This statement is disconnected from the reality of every household and business in Groton which are struggling to make ends meet and certainly are not operating with a “level services”, “business as usual”, “spend what you spent in recent years”, mentality.

The voters of Groton proved during the Phase 2 Referendum, and again last November, by a margin of 3 to 1, that they do not support capital improvement projects and tax increases.

One final FACT: If the voters and taxpayers had the right to vote on this budget in a referendum, it would NOT pass.

Thank you reading my blog. Rosanne