Board of Ed Meeting at Montville High Parses Finances

On the heels of Tuesday's meeting at Mohegan Elementary, Superintendent Pamela Aubin and other members of the School Board assembled in the library at Montville High School to discuss the means of operating a balanced budget in the face of expected cuts from the state and federal government.

While there are fewer dollars available, parents of Montville students continue to support policies such as having a higher ratio of teachers to students, which cost more money.

According to Board of Education Chairman Dave Rowley, the most comments come from parents concerned about losing a sports team through funding cuts and from those who worry about the future of Montville's Gifted and Talented Program, which runs $110,000 a year. Because salaries are the biggest expense, Rowley predicts that the board will need to reduce faculty and staff in the future. Rather than layoffs however, he envisions allowing employees to retire and then leaving their positions unfilled.

Superintendent Aubin opened her remarks by noting the new governor's inauguration, and his pledge to institute Generally Accepted Accounting Principles — a move that highlights the state's $5 billion deficit.

"These are very uncertain and difficult times for school systems," Aubin said.

She noted that in the past two years, Montville had taken in $1.7 million in Education Cost Sharing dollars from the state. She said she is counting on Gov. Malloy to provide some other source of grant money to the town. The Montville system had also lost $100,000 in Title One (or No Child Left Behind) funding, which had gone towards helping immigrant children, among other things.

In the meantime, the schools had saved money by working on efficiencies. Matt Bialowas, Director of Facilities and Custodial Services, talked about some of the changes. They included overhauling the school's light bulbs and putting fewer bulbs into units.

"One thing we have to be careful with in conservation is not to jump into the fire right away," said Bialowas. He noted that, often, new technology changes rapidly, which can make it more favorable to wait.

The schools have also saved by adjusting water heaters so that they are only run during school hours, and having the pumps put on a lower setting. Bialowas was particularly pleased by a new electronic monitoring system at the Leonard J. Tyle Middle School, which gave him information about what all the utilities were doing at a given time.

"I can tell you right now, Tyl School's mechanical plan is run the way it should have been run 18 years ago," Bialowas said._