Teacher furloughs proposed

WINSTED — Although the number has been reduced somewhat from last month’s figures, the Winchester Public School District is still running in the red for the current school year.

But administration officials hope that two proposed teacher furlough days could help bridge the budget gap.

Edward Evanouskas, the district’s business manager, said during the Winchester Board of Education’s regular meeting Tuesday, May 11, that the school system’s current deficit stands at $109,000.

That number has been reduced from the original estimate of $123,000, which was reported to the Board of Selectmen by Superintendent of Schools Blaise Salerno at the board’s meeting April 19.

Evanouskas said the slightly smaller number is the result of “going through the current budget and finding ways to reduce costs even further than before.

“We’re running a very, very tight budget. There is little wiggle room,� he said, adding that the administration has already taken the step of freezing all unnecessary spending.

Salerno told school board members that he hopes to bring that number down even further by requesting the district’s teachers take two furlough days at the end of the school year. The superintendent said this could save $40,000 in salaries before the end of the board’s fiscal year June 31.

Salerno said the administration is also looking into the possibility of requesting two furlough days for teachers in the 2010-11 school year.

The district’s teachers union, however, has requested that before they agree to the furloughs, the board send a letter to the Gilbert School Corporation and request that the semi-private Winsted high school’s teaching staff do the same.

Board members unanimously approved the motion to send a letter to The Gilbert School board.

“If we’re going to be even, let’s be even,� Winchester Board of Education Chairman Kathleen O’Brien said.

O’Brien added, however, that while Gilbert teachers did receive a pay increase for the current school year, they have agreed to keep their salaries flat for next year.

“I won’t hold it against them for saying no. They already took a 0-percent increase,� she said of the possibility of teacher furloughs for 2010-11 school year.

Although Evanouskas said the administration is doing everything in its power to reduce its current budget deficit — including the furlough days — school board member Carol Palomba said she was not pleased with the latest figures.

“I think that this budget stinks. I don’t know how you people do your checking book,� Palomba said. “This is awful. I’d fire you if I were a CEO. This is ridiculous.�

In response, Salerno said the driving force behind the current budget shortfall has been a significant spike this year in the number of special education students placed in the district by state agencies.

“Which you cannot anticipate,� he said.

Salerno added that the recent bare bones school budgets required by town officials and voters have not made it possible for the district to set aside additional funding in the budget to absorb this level of unanticipated costs.

“Any of the cushions that might have been   built into the budget were removed,â€� he said.

Board member Paul O’Meara had suggested — with few if any heating days left in the current school year — the possibility of applying the remaining funds in the district’s fuel oil line item to bridge the budget gap. But Evanouskas said those leftover funds, currently around $67,000, had already been applied to the $109,000 figure.

“There’s no free money,� Evanouskas said. “It’s all included in there.�