Class Size, Budget Cuts Worry Branford

By Pam McLoughlin

By Mark Zaretsky Register Staff

BRANFORD — The Representative Town Meeting’s Education Committee has unanimously passed the $45.82 million proposed schools budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year on to the full RTM as written, but is strongly urging the Board of Education to make any necessary cuts in ways that won’t affect class size.

The budget that the Education Committee forwarded — which is the same as the budget forwarded to the RTM by the Board of Finance — would increase by $1.8 million, or 4.1 percent, from the current budget, said Committee Chairwoman Lonnie Reed, D-5,

The full RTM will consider the school budget recommendation when it meets to vote on the entire town budget at 8 p.m. Tuesday night at the Canoe Brook Senior Center. The school budget is carefully watched because it represents nearly 60 percent of Branford’s total town budget.

While the RTM and the Board of Finance control the school budget’s bottom line, they can only recommend how the Board of Education spends its money. The school board by state law controls how its money is spent.

“We’ve asked that they not affect class sizes, particularly in the elementary schools,” said Reed. “What we’re hearing from parents (is), there are these new curriculum changes to comply with No Child Left Behind and all these unfunded mandates.”

The Education Committee also supports the Board of Education’s goal to extend all-day kindergarten throughout the district, Reed said. Currently, only a portion of eligible students get to participate in all-day kindergarten, with selection taking place via a lottery.

“Children are learning new ways to learn; dealing with math in a more conceptual way in the early grades,” Reed said. “No matter which way you want to come at this, small class sizes are really indicated.”

Parents of students at Mary R. Tisko and John B. Sliney schools, in particular, have expressed concerns, Reed said.

“The bottom line is that everybody’s struggling with a new way of learning — the teachers and the students,” Reed said. Parents at both schools are concerned about potential staff cuts that could raise class sizes from the current 17 or 18 to 22, she said.

“We appreciate their input,” said school board Chairman Frank Carrano, although he made no promises.

“We have some very difficult decisions to make, and it’s always a dilemma as to how do you adjust the budget down by over $1 million and not … make any cuts in programs,” Carrano said.

“I think the board is very committed to an all-day kindergarten and we have made that clear to the superintendent,” he said.

He said he understands the budget pressure the town is under, and the board will discuss what to do to bring the budget into line in a meeting May 21, after getting recommendations from Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Clark Halligan.

Halligan could not be reached for comment.

Reed said that Halligan and her staff “are looking at everything. They are examining everything. They are looking at all of their programs, all of their positions.

“We feel that this is good,” Reed said. “The kids are going to get what they need, and it sort of serves everybody.”

RTM Education Committee members “feel very strongly that we need to represent the interests of everybody — the students, their parents, the taxpayers, the teachers and the school administration,” said Reed, who plans to run for Branford’s state representative seat. “It’s a balancing act, and these are tough financial times.”

Mark Zaretsky can be reached at mzaretsky@nhregister.com or 789- 5722.

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