School Board Raises Concerns About Surplus

OXFORD — After a contentious debate, members of the Board of Education, at a special meeting on Tuesday, July 18, approved a measure that allows Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Miller to use nearly $1,000,000 in surplus funds for various district projects.

Board members argued that the surplus was higher than what was presented during the budgeting process in April and May.

Dr. Miller told Voices via email that the district has been a member of the Connecticut Partner Plan for medical insurance for several years and rates spiked 10.5 percent.

"Seeing this spike, the district administration and Board of Education engaged in a collaborative negotiation with the leadership of each employee bargaining association," Dr. Miller said. "As a result, agreements were reached to allow the district to change insurance carriers. Our insurance broker negotiated the change in the carrier while keeping the insurance plan the same."

Board member Victor Tomporowski said the issue with the surplus is that it is almost 3 percent of the school budget and yet, school staff members were laid off this budget cycle.

Board member Deborah Sherman agreed and resigned from the Finance/Insurance and Personal Subcommittee during the meeting. She said the subcommittee did not get the numbers for health insurance and had no idea how much they were saving.

She said she didn't think the surplus would be close to $1 million, felt is was wrong and didn't want to be part of the process.

Dr. Miller explained to Voices that the net result in this year's budget savings was $500,0000, which also brings down the budget request for the next school year by $500,000, before adding the increase in next year's rates. He said insurance rates are maxed out at 8.5 percent with the new carrier.

"This was a one-time savings from good business practices early in the year," Dr. Miller said.

A few board members called the high surplus unusual, especially after laying off several staff members. Board member Stephanie Miller said all nine school board members are responsible for the budget and they were told the surplus should have been a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

Dr. Miller said that as part of the new budget for the new school year, 10 paraprofessional positions were eliminated.

"The budget surplus from last year had no impact on the reductions, as the leftover money is unable to be moved to the new fiscal year," said Dr. Miller.

He added that when staff retire or leave the district, there is the opportunity to hire new staff who have less experience, but have demonstrated the ability to perform at a high level. The administration employed this hiring practice for the current school year, which netted the district savings of approximately $600,000, according to Dr. Miller.

Mr. Tomporowski argued that during the budget process, he had advocated for an additional $1 million because staff members were being laid off. There was the belief there would be no surplus in the 2023-24 budget.

Dr. Miller told board members the surplus cannot be rolled into the new fiscal year.

The board still approved the proposal for Dr. Miller to use the surplus as he saw fit for school projects, which include security, curriculum, retirement incentive packages, athletics and facility upgrades.

In other news, board members debated revisions to policy 9314 regarding community organizations and suspending 9931, which currently requires two meetings for the approval of new policies or revisions.

Dr. Miller told Voices the board was trying to get the revisions approved in one meeting because getting a quorum in the summer is not always easy.

"There was a need to give time to the schools and organizations to plan for changes impacted by the policy," Dr. Miller said.

Policy 9314 requires leaders of community organizations to have students in the school or grade levels supported by that organization, according to Dr. Miller. He added the policy also puts parameters on what community organizations are allowed to support in the schools.

Ms. Sherman argued against the policy since it is already difficult to get volunteers to take on organizations associated with the school district. Board members agreed the policy revision is still a work in progress.