Schools

Superintendent Says Education Cuts 'Still Under Consideration'

Interim Superintendent of Schools Richard Kisiel told Patch Thursday that he has not made any decisions about proposed cuts to town's education budget.

Although the Board of Directors approved a town budget for the upcoming fiscal year Tuesday that restored about $1 million in funding to the school system, Interim Superintendent of Schools Richard Kisiel said Thursday that the increased funding still is not enough to ensure that some or all of a series of proposed budget cuts do not happen. 


The Board of Education sought a 5.5 percent increase to the school budget for the upcoming school year, in order to be able to afford rising salary and benefit costs and also plug a number of other holes brought about by several years of austerity in school budgeting, but when the Board of Directors approved a $170,581,048 town budget Tuesday, it represented only about a 4.1 percent increase to the education budget. 

In early March, in order to bridge the gap, Kisiel proposed a series of budget cuts that would curtail a number of school repairs, new programing, eliminate sports teams and coaches, bands and orchestras, end the district's gifted and talented program and slash the equivalent of nine full-time teaching positions.

In a statement Tuesday, Mayor Leo V. Diana said the $1 million in increased funding to the school system would be enough to ensure those cuts did not occur. 

"We increased the BOE by $1 million dollars to ensure the funding for our full curriculum of school programs such as gifted and talented programs, the music program that Manchester is known for, also to continue to have Mary Carderelli as the athletic trainer at MHS," said Mayor Leo V. Diana in his remarks before approval of the budget. 

But Kisiel told Patch Thursday that he was not ready to go that far, and that he still had to find a way to plug about a $1.5 million difference between the Board of Education's funding request and the amount provided by the Board of Directors.

"I don't know for certain, I really don't know," Kisiel told Patch Thursday when asked about the budget cuts. "Everything is still under consideration at this point, there's no question about that."

In an email, Board of Education Chairman Chris Pattacini told Patch that he was "grateful" for the funding increase, but that tough decisions still remained.

"I'm grateful that the board of directors adopted a budget that includes increased funding for education above that which the general manager proposed. I believe that reflects the increased recognition by our community that we need to make further investments in education. They should be commended for their decision. That said, since the increase falls short of the superintendents request, the administration and board will have its work cut out, agreeing on reductions to meet the revised amount," Pattacini said by email. "While the BOD identified a number of programs they hope to save with their budget, it remains to be seen how the board of education will prioritize its spending. We will need to roll up our sleeves and look hard at what programs, services and spending we can reduce from our request."

A Board of Education workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, May 1, 2013 in order to try and resolve the budget gap. Kisiel said he intends to submit another proposal to the school board during that meeting as a way to bridge the gap, but said Thursday that he still needed to review a number of areas of the budget and could not comment on that proposal. 


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