By LISA CAPOBIANCO
STAFF WRITER
From parents to educators to elected officials, people from all walks of life addressed the Board of Finance last Tuesday in response to the school budget proposal.
The meeting was held in Bristol Eastern High School’s auditorium to accommodate enough people who came out in response to the Board of Education’s recent announcement of possibly closing one or two schools. In response to that announcement, at least 200 people flocked to a special Board of Finance meeting held on April 20, when the Board of Education discussed how it would manage with a 1.44 percent budget increase—the recommendation made by the city comptroller. That meeting did not include public comment.
As of last Tuesday, closing schools was no longer an option to reducing the school budget. The board initially proposed a Fiscal Year 2016-2017 budget of $111,610,241, which would have marked a 4.47 percent increase over the current budget of $106,836,650.
In addition, after working on possible solutions with the Board of Finance, the Board of Education is now searching for ways to reduce its proposed budget by $1 million instead of the initial $3 million.
“We felt this was a good solution,” said Board of Finance Chairperson Cheryl Thibeault. “But there is a downside. The mill rate needed to increase a little bit, so…now we’re looking at a 1.42 mill rate increase on our tax rolls.”
“The Board of Education is committed to make the necessary cuts to save a million dollars as requested by the Board of Finance,” said Wilson. “We have started to think about and earmark places where we can cut that million dollars.”
During the meeting, David Hayes, president of the Bristol Federation of Teachers, said teachers in the district can only do so much with less money, noting how they are not even getting the basic supplies that are needed. He said this as resulted in many PTA’s subsidizing supplies.
“We’re told to do more with less,” said Hayes. “You just can’t do that sustainably over the course of years.”
Bristol resident Maggie Helming, who is the mother of two children at Edgewood School, encouraged the comptroller and members of the Board of Finance to meet with the principals and staff at each school, “to ask questions about their budgets and to see the real impact any cuts would have.”
“Only when everyone involved has a more rounded knowledge of how the money is spent, and how cuts impact students, can this problem be solved,” said Helming.
Several members of the Edgewood School PTA also addressed city officials, including Stacy Valentine, who shared cost-saving ideas for the school budget, such as re-negotiating vendor contracts and offering retirement incentives to teachers.
Paul Pinette, a teacher in Bristol who also serves as vice president of the Bristol Federation of Teachers, also shared cost-saving ideas, including an early retirement incentive program.
“The BFT would like to be a part of that discussion,” said Pinette. “The BFT and teachers are interested in helping provide the solutions. We see what happens in the classroom. We know what needs to get done.”
John Harris, a teacher at Bristol Eastern, said the school system in any community is a “critical asset” that helps determine whether families with children want to live there.
Harris noted research by the economic department of Ohio State University, which concluded that the quality of schools is the most important factor in residential real estate evaluation.
“The quality of public schools turns out to be, by far, the single most important variable in communities’ desirability, and that is reflected directly in the residential property values,” said Harris.
Jeff Helming, the parent of two children at Edgewood School, advocated for more school funding.
“I’m glad to hear the gap is closing, but it needs to close all the way,” said Helming. “When you increase funding, you’ll encourage more families to move to Bristol.”
Bristol resident Gerald Lee said the city is blessed with a great school system, but as the son of a senior citizen, he is concerned about the mill rate increasing.
“I take care of his budget, and I see what we pay for taxes, and how much strain is put on his budget,” said Lee. “We cannot raise the mill rate.”