New London school board OKs $41M budget

March 28--NEW LONDON -- It took two tries, but the Board of Education on Thursday night approved by a 6-1 vote a budget of $41,177,450 for fiscal year 2015 -- an increase of 1.9 percent, or $772,780, over the current budget.

The first motion to approve the budget failed, with board members Mirna Martinez, Sylvia Potter, Scott Garbini and Aracelis Vazquez Haye voting against approval.

"We have four 'nays' and we have to have a budget in," Chairwoman Margaret Mary Curtin said. "I would love to vote 'no' too, but to be responsible, to make sure we have a budget for this year, I'm voting yes."

Superintendent Nicholas A. Fischer reminded board members that they needed to approve a total budget amount but could make changes to certain line items until the budget is officially adopted.

"I need to warn the board: If this board does not approve a budget, the city has total discretion for giving you whatever they want," he said. "Between now and June 30, you can make whatever revisions you want. Whether it happens or not is a decision of this board, it is not a decision of this administration."

After more discussion about the budgeting process and a second motion, the board approved the budget. Martinez was the sole 'no' vote. The board also voted to go through the budget line by line at a future meeting and to develop a list of programs for which it wants the administration to provide costs and performance indicators.

The overall budget increase of 1.9 percent was determined based on increases expected in salaries, health insurance, transportation and out-of-district placements. That increase was approved by the board Feb. 27 by a 5-1 vote.

The 2015 budget was calculated using a new budgeting method known as student-based budgeting, which school officials say leads to a more equitable allocation of funds.

Under the student-based budgeting method, each school is allocated a certain amount of money based on its total projected enrollment. The projected enrollment is multiplied by a per-student dollar amount to determine each school's budget. The per-student budget for students in special education and English language learner programs is weighted at different levels based on the students' needs.

For so-called regular education students, the per-student dollar amount was set at $4,579.57 at the elementary level, $5,727.29 at the middle school level and $6,871.87 at the high school level in the budget reviewed by the board Thursday.

Each school -- except Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School and the Science and Technology Magnet High School -- would see an increase in funding under the proposed budget.

The budget for Bennie Dover Jackson would decrease by $569,559 due to a projected decrease of about 75 students. The STEM high school's budget would decrease by $560,756 because there are very few special education students and no English language learner students enrolled there.

The mayor will present the Board of Education's budget, along with the overall city budget, to the City Council and the public on April 1.

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