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Lawrence Kennedy is a resident of Fairfield. He submitted this letter to the editor in regards to ongoing debate over town and school district spending for 2011-12.
As a taxpayer in Fairfield who has been listening and reading as the town budget issues develop, I take issue with John Mitola, the current chairman of Fairfield Board of Education and his letter that was recently published in local papers. The taxpayers of Fairfield have repeatedly expressed that they can no longer afford annual increases in property taxes, which have been rising each year for the last 30-plus years.
An outside audit, requested by the taxpayers group We The People, said the town's operations are extremely lean and identified only about $350,000 that could be further trimmed from that side of the budget. The independent operational audit that the Board of Education had done indicated a much different result, identifying $5 million in savings that could be realized if the Board of Education took certain actions to trim costs.
Superintendent David Title disagreed with the audit, saying the conclusions were flawed. But "Dr. Title and his team," I am quoting Mitola, take credit for $860,000 in cuts identified by the audit as their own discoveries, which is untrue.
When the Board of Education fears that the budget might be trimmed, the first action it takes is to cite the damage that would be caused by cutting teaching positions. Teachers and support for the teachers is not the only place to trim costs it is the last place to rein in expenses. In my opinion, there are no more important employees of the Board of Education than the teachers and the paraprofessionals, people who spend their time in the classrooms every day.
The first step I would take would be to see whether all of the teachers are being used as their contract suggests. While their contract limits classes to 20 or 21 students, it is my understanding that 62 classes at Ludlowe High School and 40 classes at Ward High School have fewer than 15 students. Such classes are not using the teachers' time properly, or scheduling issues at the high schools need to be addressed.
One of the areas the board should also be looking to trim is administrative personnel those people who are not in the classrooms. Our town has a deputy superintendent who earns $80,000 per year as a part-time employee who works two days per week. I have no idea whether benefits or a pension go with that position. I have to question the necessity of a two-day per week administrative position.
We have six curriculum leaders with salaries of $122,000 plus benefits, and it has been suggested that these positions are unnecessary.
According to American Schools Health Association guidelines, we have more psychologists in the elementary schools than are necessary. That could be cut back to the recommended number.
Also, we could reduce the number of houses in the high schools from three to two. Each is a school within the larger school. Therefore, there are three sets of nearly every administrator as well as administrative support staff within each high school.
Eliminate the $560,000 for teacher improvement, which is not professional development but mentoring of new teachers and teachers in need of additional support. Nothing like this exists in the private sector. As a professional, you are expected to improve yourself or move on.
Increase class size by one student and adjust any classes that have fewer than the contractual limits, specifically the 102 classes that have fewer than 15 students.
Eliminate the principals hired to run the summer school program. We pay our principals for a 12-month year, and any savings derived from using them full time rather than hiring part-time principals should be used to reduce other expenses. If the board opts to continue hiring summer principals, make the now 12-month positions into 10-month jobs. The funding for the summer help would be funded from the 12-month salaries.
Lastly, the first selectman, the Board of Finance and the RTM have made it clear that although they can recommend areas for savings, it is the Board of Education that makes the decisions as to where cuts would be made. It's not the selectmen, not the Board of Finance and not the RTM. So if the Board of Education budget is reduced by any amount and any teachers or paraprofessional support are cut, it would be because that is where Mitola and Title opted to begin cutting rather than considering the areas suggested by outside groups.
Lawrence Kennedy
Fairfield
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