STONINGTON — The Board of Education has voted to cut nine staff positions in the coming school year, an adjustment officials said was the result of budget cuts made by the Board of Finance in March.
The Board of Education unanimously agreed last week to slash a total of nine jobs from the 2024-25 operating budget, which will reduce expenditures by approximately $479,000 in salary and benefits.
“Unfortunately the money (to reduce the budget) has to come from somewhere,” said board member Meghan Blanchette, who expressed that her own family will be impacted by the cuts.
“No one besides the building principals would know better; they went through this painstaking process and we need to trust that they did their due diligence,” she continued. “While I would rather not make our children suffer in this way, it is outside our control at this point.”
Among the positions cut were three interventionist positions, four full-time substitute teachers, a music teacher from the middle school and an unfilled academic coach position. Several other items were also cut to meet additional budget needs.
For the district, Superintendent of Schools Mary Anne Butler said the additional reductions made the night of the budget hearing on March 26 hit especially hard.
Entering the public hearing, Board of Finance deliberations had already led to $322,589 in reductions from the initial Board of Education request, a 4.87% increase over current spending. At the hearing, however, finance members expressed a desire for a zero tax increase and voted to instead reduce the education budget further, resulting in the proposed $43.51 million amount the Board of Education had to hit.
The proposed budget will go before voters on April 30 during the town’s annual budget referendum.
“After the first (school budget) deliberations, I was confident with the original number they were knocking around and that we would be able to move forward without any staff reduction,” Butler told the board. “When it came down to that 4.5% instead, we had to begin looking at eliminating positions.”
To meet contractual obligations, the district is required to notify individuals who may be impacted by staffing cuts of layoffs by May 1. With no time to vote again between the April 30 referendum and the following morning, officials noted that action was required at the board’s meeting to make adjustments.
Butler has confirmed that the three certified teachers with the lowest seniority had already received layoff notifications from the district, but remained hopeful some jobs could be saved.
She proposed cutting the three temporary interventionist positions funded through federal COVID-19 pandemic funding in February before the school board voted to restore the positions to the budget. She noted that the substitute teachers will still have the option to work for the district as daily subs, though those are positions which have lower hourly salaries and do not include benefits.
One music teacher at the middle school will also lose their job, leaving two music teachers at Stonington Middle School next year. The music program in the district will be reconfigured so that there will be no impact on students.
Members of the Board of Education last week also expressed interest in adding a second question to future budget referendums that would ask those who voted no whether they sought increases or decreases to the budget.
Board Chairman Farouk Rajab said he consulted with the district’s attorney, as well as First Selectman Danielle Chesebrough, and learned that while it is too late for the current year, it could easily be included in future votes. The concept was one that could provide better feedback, even in situations where the budget passes.
The concept received unanimous approval from board members.
“This is something that could benefit everyone,” Rajab said. “I did not enter with the hope of doing it this year. We are not trying to put out a fire, but rather are trying to build a more cohesive relationship for the future.”
