Politics & Government
Board of Finance Grills School Representatives on Budget
Officials from Stonington Public Schools presented their proposed 2013-2014 budget on Wednesday.
Stonington Board of Finance members had lots of questions about the proposed 2013-2014-school budget.
On Wednesday, evening Stonington Public Schools officials, including Superintendent Van Riley, Board of Education Chair Gail MacDonald, and Operations Manager Bill King, presented the Board of Finance with their $33.9 million proposed budget.
“I’m proud to present our proposed budget,” MacDonald said. “This budget demonstrates deep thought and the goals of the Board of Education and those goals reflect the needs of our students.”
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Board of Finance Chairman Glen Frishman praised the budget for its organization.
“It’s more legible, easier to read, we don’t have to hunt around,” Frishman said.
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That’s about where the praise ended and the questions begun. In a more than hour-long meeting Board of Finance grilled Stonington School officials on everything from implementing the new state standards to Apple versus PC computers to school nurses.
Director of Technology Jason Jones said that the district is struggling to keep up with technology and that the district is split fairly evenly between the amount of Apple versus PC computers. He said that while the initial cost of an Apple computer is often 30 percent more than a PC they tend to have twice the lifetime expectancy.
One of the questions Board of Finance members kept coming back to was the $66,000 to make several administrators including the middle school dean of students and elementary administrators assistant principals to give them the ability to evaluate teachers and meet the new state standards.
“They are unfunded mandates but we have to meet those mandates and we're working on them,” Riley said.
The proposed budget represents a 2.97 percent increase over the 2012-2013 budget and includes money for all-day kindergarten.
“We would all love to say yes to everything, but there’s always that but,” Frishman said.
The Board of Finance meets next week at 7 p.m., at the Stonington Police Station for budget deliberations.
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