We know it will be another tough year for the budget. The only chance that it won't be a repeat of last year's nightmare is if the formula for cost sharing gets changed and money pours into Norwalk for education. So we have two scenarios: (1) large budget cuts or (2) money for additional expenditures. To be prepared for either possibility, what would you
suggest that the superintendent (1) eliminates or (2) adds. If there is good reason why a position, a program or whatever can not be eliminated, please let us know in a civil manner.
Want to avoid budget drama?
ReplyDeleteTell the Superintendent she needs to propose something that helps the schools- even if it means there are fewer arses in the chairs in the Central Office.
There's not that much left in central office to cut. Norwalk is a large district and require SOME people to run it!
ReplyDeleteI love the "poor big district" sob stories.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what we have---- first, every school has at least one principal and assistant principal, so nearly every employee already has two layers of management between them. So, it's not like we need a huge central office to oversee 1000 teachers-- we need people to oversee about 45 school administrators.
So- you have the two top people making about 1/2 Million-- not bad. Then you have a COO and he has a budget coordinator, a tech director, a grants staff, a purchasing agent and an HR director.
The Supt. and Asst. Supt. have directors for special ed, Science, English, Math and Early Childhood Education.
I don't see any areas that are lacking--
Bruce Mellion has been milking this district for years. I can't wait to see him and Jack go at it again this year. I want ring side seats!!! Can anyone say "shekels"?
ReplyDeleteI think we should leave out the word 'shekels' as some people really were offended by that comment. Can't we at least honor their feelings? I do agree about the union president, however. Also, the cost for the superintendent in a district of Norwalk's size is not outrageous, especially in Fairfield County. It is what we should expect to pY. The real question that should be asked is whether we are getting what we paid for. What has she contributed to justify this salary?
ReplyDeleteTwo years ago, the Board of Education undertook a comprehensive review of not just each line item in the budget, but also the underlying assumptions that have been used in the estimations and projections upon which the budget was built.
ReplyDeleteLast, year, as soon as Craig Drezek joined the school department, we were able to continue this work and discovered that the former interim-COO had failed to adequately track budget transfers resulting in line items that were inaccurate.
Because of Craig's work (and the long hours of the COO's staff), we were able to arrive at a dollar figure for a "same-services" budget. However, that "same-services" budget was never prepared on a line-by-line basis, so as the BoE voted on last year's budget, we were working on the basis of what amounts would be needed to be cut from the "same-services" budget so that we would be spending the amount allocated by the BET.
The budget process last year was not without its hiccups, but at least we are now in a much better position to be able to accurately project our true budget needs for the coming year. Our new COO is doing a very good job confirming the accuracy of each line item. We have finally eliminated the long-standing ploys of having funded but unfilled positions (at one point in budgets past, there were more teachers assigned in the budget to a particular elementary school than there were classrooms in that building) and the classic inflated estimations (which had been used to create a surplus in some salary accounts). The budget projections which will be provided in the budget, I believe, will be accurate.
Although some tough decisions will still need to be made, at least we will be able to make those choices based upon a rational debate of the relative values of the positions or programs being considered.
I would like to know the justifications to having two A/Ps at every elementary and Middle Schools. Why not consider floating A/Ps instead? The greatest costs which was also last years, was salary and benefits - I don't understand why we keep paying teachers, A/P's or even Principals when their school are still lacking behind. Why are we paying a sume of $46K to Bruce Mellion - is this happening again? Speaking of the Budget committee - we heard from them early in the budget when they were working last year - it seems late this time around - what happened? The new democrats want to increase the school budget for next year but I'm not sure if I can afford a large tax increase and the schools have little to show for.
ReplyDeleteGood questions 10:56 a.m.
ReplyDelete1. The assistant principals in the schools are needed due to the tremendous amount of work required by being under state supervision- the level of involvement of compiling on-going data of student learning (the data teams that are often mentioned) requires a second administrator in the schools. There is one AP assigned to each elementary school and to two of the smaller middle schools.
2. Pay is based upon the contracts for each of the parties you've mentioned, but I would only add that true merit pay would require that every central office administrator also be paid based upon district-wide achievement. Also, in any merit pay debate (and the debates are purely hypothetical) there is always the issue of how to adjust merit pay for physical education teachers or other specialists who teach in areas which are not amenable to standardized testing.
3. The contribution made for the union president's salary is set by the contract that the Board of Education approved just before our election two years ago. Being married to a teacher, and as the BoE will soon be starting to negotiate the next teachers' contract, I can't comment on items that may be on the table in the upcoming give-and-take. I do tend to believe that contract negotiations require give and take on both sides and that there are mutually-advantageous options that need to be (and were not in the past) explored.
4. The Budget Committee is a workgroup solely organized by the Superintendent who is charged (under the city Charter) with presenting an initial budget to the BoE for our review by December; she, or her designee, run the meetings. Regardless of the advice that may be given to the superintendent at these meetings, the superintendent makes all of the final decisions about what is included and excluded in the budget which is presented to the BoE. Although I have strong opinions about the process, I believe that the Superintendent needs to have the discretion to seek the advice and counsel of parties of her own choosing. As Chairperson of the BoE's Finance Committee, I have been meeting with the new COO to review budget projections for the upcoming year. We will have our next Finance Committee meeting this coming Wednesday at 7:30 p.m-- we will then be meeting on the second Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. (with additional meetings as needed).
5. As for the plans of the majority on the Common Council, I do not envy their task of having to balance the growing needs of the various City departments with the fiscal limits of us as citizens. Although I have talked about the budget with several of the members in very casual terms, I do not have a sense of what their actual plans will be regarding the ultimate cap- nor do I have any sense of how the BET will decide to apportion those revenues. This year, I am hopeful that the Common Council and BET will have increased confidence that the budget document is premised on accurate numbers and realistic projections and that it was properly vetted by the BoE before being dispatched to them.
What I want to know is why there seemed to be a lot under the surface of the last budget debate? Why did Supt. Marks want to cut all of those services in the elementary schools and what does she have against the middle school academically talented program?
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that bothers me is that every year, I keep hearing all these promises about recylcing in the schools, but my kids' school DOES NOT RECYCLE. Has someone been lying about recycling? And wouldn't it save us $$$ ?
Steve C- if you answer this, any chance we could get the Readers' Digest version, please- thanks.
I'm shocked that all the schools are not recycling. Can anyone from the school department tell us why this isn't happening?
ReplyDeleteIf this saves money, why isn't Supt. Marks ordering her staff to have recylcing programs?
The Supt should spend more time behind her desk making decisions and managing the district instead of visiting schools all day long.
ReplyDelete