Region 7 gets approval from towns

REGION 7 — Voters in the Region 7 School District approved the board of education’s $17.9 million budget for the 2010-11 school year during a machine vote referendum in all four towns the district serves Tuesday, May 4.

The new budget, a 1.75-percent increase over current spending levels, will go into effect on July 1.

The majority of voters in all four towns the district serves approved the budget proposal. Voters in Barkhamsted approved the budget 68-21; in Colebrook the vote was 235-111; in New Hartford, 255-126; and in Norfolk, 31-9.

Region 7 Superintendent of Schools Clinton Montgomery told The Journal Wednesday morning that he was thankful for the “continued support of all four of our communities.�

“The board of education worked hard with our administration to create a budget that reflects the current economic conditions,� Montgomery said.

He added, however, that the district’s work must now move into a second budgetary phase.

“Which is finding ways to stretch every dollar of this budget, and maximize staff and services for students,� Montgomery said.

The new budget will reduce certified and non-certified staffing levels throughout the district, including classroom teachers.

The overall staffing reductions will effect 14.6 FTE (full-time equivalent) employees — 6.1 certified and 8.5 classified staff members — with some being laid off outright and others having their regular hours reduced.

Although the budget does not include proposals to eliminate any district programs, it does call for the scope of some to be reduced.

Particularly affected will be the availability of some electives at the high school, especially art and technology education classes.

In addition, the budget proposed the elimination of replacement schedules, heavy cuts to equipment/infrastructure replacement and maintenance, as well as significant cuts to the purchase of general supplies and textbooks.

Currently, the district is operating on a $17.6 million budget for the 2009-10 school year, which represented a zero-percent increase from the previous budget.

The driving force behind this year’s budget difficulties for the district — in addition to the struggling economy — is a $372,278 jump (or almost 22 percent) in health-care benefit package payouts for teachers and staff, an expected increase of $336,753 in special education costs and rises in teacher and staff salaries negotiated under collective bargaining agreements.

The board had asked the school’s employee unions to consider reopening their contracts to provide some salary and benefits concessions, but only the administrators agreed to a pay freeze.

Staff members employed “at will,� or those who are not members of a union, however, did agree to have their salaries frozen at current levels for the next school year.

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