Suffield Education Budget Increase Reviewed

The proposed Suffield education budget for the coming fiscal year was lauded by Suffield Board of Education members Tuesday night as lean but robust enough to move the district forward.

The Suffield Board of Education heard the detailed line item expenditures on Tuesday night at . Members will further review the proposal in preparation for a full vote at its March 20 session.

Once approved, the education budget will be presented to the Suffield Board of Finance for inclusion in the overall town budget. Education funding is the largest component of town's municipal expenditures. It has the greatest impact on the town's mill rate and therefore on town taxes.

"This is a very strong budget," said Superintendent of Schools Karen Baldwin as she reviewed the $31,263,943 proposal with the board. "It was a good model exercise, one we can all feel good about and fundamentally this may be 'the' most important action we take this year."

Baldwin’s proposal is a hike of 1.63 percent over the current budget, a total increase of $502,392. Last year’s proposed education budget involved a 1.83 percent hike over the previous year – approximately $550,000 more.

Budget committee chairman Robert Eccles noted that Baldwin did a very good job keeping costs down while allowing room to meet the needs of the state mandated educational changes. One of the largest areas of increase was in employee benefits: a boost of 10.17 percent, which was a raise required by the current union contract. This increase was offset by efforts from the school system's central office to reduce spending and consolidate purchasing functions, saving 13.43 percent and 11.38 percent on those items, respectively.

"In the past, we had been limiting things so much that I really didn’t think this was possible," said board chairwoman Sue Porcello. "I give a lot of credit to Karen and her staff and all of the principals and everyone involved in this process. Now we need to go out and support this budget."

The largest single line item for the coming 2012-2013 fiscal year was teacher salaries at a figure of $16,684,847, a hike of only 1.29 percent. Non-certified personnel salaries actually decreased by nearly 1 percent. Teachers will also benefit from an increased in-service training budget increase of about $16,000. The new budget also allocated $224,242 for equipment; an increase of 25.02 percent over the current line.

Baldwin also presented a "Community Report Card," covering data assembled by the state about the status of Suffield public schools. The figures from 2010 show that Suffield is "doing pretty well but there is room for us to do better," she said.

Two other key reports were delivered as well. Suffield High School principal Donna Hayward updated the board on the completion of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) recommendations report while director of pupil services Dianna Kolodziey updated the panel on special education improvement plans and the adaptations of the Capital Region Education Council (CREC) findings.

In other Suffield Board of Education news, the board approved the 2012-2013 calendar. That calendar calls for a June 21, 2013 end-of-school date. The vote was unanimous.