Board of Ed. Budget 'Lean and Mean'

Lean, mean and hot off the press, the 2010-11 Superintendent's Proposed Budget for the Darien Public Schools is ready for review.

After three months of filing requests and expenses, the proposed budget hit the printers in late December. Thursday evening's orientation meeting began what school administration say will be a painful and sobering few months, as the Board of Education gears up for a second consecutive year of belt-tightening.

"The budget request was lean, and that budget book you have on your laps is mean," said Superintendent of Schools Donald Fiftal. "How do we save where we can and limit the pain and the bleeding? That is this year's goal."

Setting a budget is a community endeavor, said Fiftal. Hence last night's Budget Orientation, where Board of Ed. Director of Finance Richard Huot presented the Budget Subcommittee with an overview of the budget's form, as opposed to its content.

"This budget is lean and mean; and it means more if you know the purpose of where the dollars are going," said Huot.

Part one of the four-part budget, the Executive Summary (pages 1-27), explicates that purpose, beginning with the Superintendent's Message.

For the Darien schools, a district so committed to education, the challenge of developing a budget is always striking the balance between educational excellence and fiscal responsibility, said Fiftal. The economic downturn has made striking that balance particularly difficult, forcing the board to hit the pause button on new initiatives, keep spending to a minimum, and scrimp and save wherever possible.

And still, the impact of economic instability is hard felt. The proposed budget for 2010-11 totals $72,697,729, a 5.82 percent increase over last year's. An increase that Fiftal said comes after a deep $2 million cut in services that may put jobs on the line.

"5.9 percent represents some degree of bleeding," said Fiftal. "We began meeting with people whose jobs are affected by the budget, and that translates to service cuts that will affect the community."

Following the Executive Summary are three line-by-line explanations of where the money is spent, organized by responsibility, by object, and grants. Specifics were not a point of discussion at Thursday's meeting, but in broad terms, the bulk of the budget increase falls into three categories: state revenue shortfall, medical benefits increase and salaries increases negotiated just prior to the recession.

Major requests were kept to what was a pressing health or safety concern. A boiler needs replacing at Holmes for example, a  $404,000 project. Increased enrollment has put added pressure on major capital projects; the auxiliary cafeteria at the high school needs restructuring into classrooms.

It may not be pretty, but the board is not hiding a thing—quite the contrary.

There's no secret budget, assured Huot, emphasizing the importance of fiscal transparency. Within the document itself, a new "revenue" section has been added to clearly show where the dollars transfer.

"Why are there so many transfers?" Huot asked rhetorically, explaining that the proposed budget is set in November and lots of refining and tweaking takes place before the final budget hits the printer.

Any edits made from now through May will be included in the last few pages of the final budget.

Unlike the town's budget, the Board of Education is an agent of the State, and as such, is free to spend the approved budget however they see fit.

In theory, as Representative Town Meeting member Jack Davis (District V) pointed out, the board could spend a large chunk of the approved budget on crayons.

"It suffices to say that any adjustment has to go through the full Board of Ed.," said member Heather Shea, adding that reallocations are also noted in the budget.

The proposed budget is available on the Darien Public Schools website for referencing, reviewing and marking up at will. CDs with a PDF of all budgetary materials are also readily available upon request. As always, Board of Ed. budget meetings are open to the public.

Fiftal ended the meeting with a brief address to the near one dozen interested parties in the audience, noting that he will elaborate further at next Tuesday's full Board of Ed. meeting on Jan. 12.

"We're all very proud of what happens in this school district. It's a very sobering enterprise that we're going to be entering. I don't envy the board and I haven't envied myself for the past six weeks."