Norwalk Superintendent Presents $167 Million Operating Budget For Schools

Superintendent Dr. Susan F. Marks presented a proposed $167 million operating budget for Norwalk’s public schools for fiscal year 2013 to the Board of Education on Tuesday evening.

Citing “interesting economic times,” she acknowledged the schools system is in a “deep freeze” with regard to hiring and initiating new programs.

Nevertheless, the budget represents an eight percent increase over the present budget because of legal and contractual mandates and rising energy costs.

“Our goal is to strike a delicate balance between meeting our educational responsibilities and being fiscally responsible to Norwalk taxpayers,” she said during a session at Norwalk City Hall which began the four-month education budget review process.

Banks and Elio Longo, chief operating officer for the Norwalk public schools, gave a joint presentation to the Board in which they emphasized the factors they called the “major cost drivers” accounting for the eight percent, $12 million increase.

The biggest factor was escalating employee benefit health insurance costs totaling $4.6 million, a three percent increase over the current budget.

In response to questioning by Board members, Longo said he planned to contact Anthem and Sigma, the schools’ insurance providers, in an attempt to rebid the coverage.

“We can’t continue to grow at the current rate of increase,” he said.

Other major cost contributors the two cited were teacher salary increases amounting to $2.12 million, a 1.4 percent increase, and higher utility costs.

Longo said a projected increase in heating oil was halved during preliminary budget work when some facilities were switched over to natural gas, resulting in a $530,000 increase rather than a $1 million increase.

Board member Sue Haynie expressed chagrin that the budget proposal meant “this will be the sixth or seventh year in a row with no program improvements in Norwalk.”

In response, Marks and Longo stressed pressures caused by the current economic climate that inhibit investments in new programs.

They defined their critical mission as “At all costs maintain support for reading, writing and mathematics instruction.”

Board member Mike Barbis noted that Norwalk’s vocational education programs have “gone by the wayside” and he hoped they could be revived.

Marks cited costs of resurrecting vocational education but she said it was her goal to establish a school in Norwalk with a career orientation, providing training for the trades and green technology.

She identified cost-cutting initiatives already taken such as redefining staff positions, consolidating schools and applying the findings of a staff demographer to maximize enrollments.

While school enrollment overall is projected to remain stable, she anticipates a two percent increase in the kindergarten-grade five population in 2013, as well as a four percent drop in high school enrollment.

Longer term, Marks said costs of special education could be substantially reduced if students – now transported to area programs outside Norwalk – were schooled in Norwalk.

“We should bring our children home where they can be in their own neighborhoods and school,” she said.

“Long-term, there could be big savings,” she added, noting a 1.5 percent ($2.3 million) increase in special education costs in the new budget.

The budget process continues early in the new year.

The Board will consider the proposed budget at its January 3 meeting at 7:45 PM in Room A300. The following day, the Finance Committee will convene to consider it in the Concert Hall at 7:30 PM.

The budget will be the subject of a special meeting of the Board of Education on January 10 at 7:30 PM in the Concert Hall.

It will be formally present to the city on January 13, with a review to follow on January 19.