RTM Education Committee Budget Report FY 2020-21: Submitted June 5, 2020 Your Education Committee met to vote on Item 3: the FY 2020-21 Budget on Monday, June 1, 2020. The Education Committee considers and votes on operating and capital budgets for the Board of Education, the Libraries, the Bruce Museum and parts of the Departments of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, and Health as they relate to the schools. We also consider the school lunch revolving fund, budget resolutions related to the schools and libraries, and the borrowing authorization for capital projects, including those related to the BOE. As in prior years, our coverage of the budget began in November as the Superintendent presented her proposed budget to the Board of Education. During our December, January, March, May and June meetings we heard presentations and updates from the BOE on the status of their budget. At our May meeting we had budget presentations from Greenwich Library and The Bruce Museum. Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, we gave departments the option of submitting budget information via email. The Perrot Library, DPW, Parks and Rec, and Department of Health (special clinical/hygienists) all submitted budget information to us via email. Members of our committee took on liaison roles with individual schools, the libraries, and The Bruce. Each liaison met with the school building or department leaders to prepare a more in-depth report on their budgets. These are appended at the end of this report. Please realize that most interviews were completed before the BET’s budget was finalized, and the information contained in them may have changed. The budgets of all departments changed significantly from the time the BET budget committee voted in March to the time the full BET submitted a budget to the RTM in May. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic, the BET passed a budget in May that held all departments operating budgets flat for next year and cut many capital projects. All departments but the Board of Education reported that they believe they will be able to manage to provide a similar level of services next year with a flat operating budget. The Board of Education, however, has said that a flat budget will require them to make significant cuts to programs. They are still developing a plan for how they will do this. The BOE operating budget recommended to the RTM by the BET in May is $163.4 million. The budget proposed by the BOE and approved by the BET budget committee in March was $166.6 million. The proposed budget kept to the original BET guidelines of a 2% increase. Because their contractual salary obligations were estimated at a $2.4 million dollar increase, the BOE had already submitted a budget that involved cutting close to $1 million from its prior year’s budget. For at least the second year in a row, the BOE submitted a budget that did not maintain level services in order to meet BET guidelines. In addition, by March, when the BET budget committee passed the proposed budget, it became clear that the BOE also had a budget shortfall of approximately $1.5 million this year related to special education settlements and outplacements. This shortfall is expected to continue for the next budget year as well. As a result, the BOE budget approved by the BET is approximately $4.5 million less than would be required to deliver the already reduced services proposed by the BOE. On the capital budget, many of the most controversial BOE items were removed from the budget by the BET. The BOE had proposed a capital budget of $35.8 million. The BET approved a capital budget of $16.4 million. Items removed or reduced include money for the Central Middle School fields; soil remediation at Western Middle School; the final phase of Cardinal Stadium, funds to continue A&E work for Julian Curtiss; and the installation of dishwashers at each school. The final capital budget includes $100k for a special education study; $1.4m for digital learning; $3.6m for Cardinal Stadium; $110k for feasibility work on renovations to Old Greenwich Elementary; and $250k to continue feasibility/A&E work on security-related changes to the GHS enrtryway. The capital budget also includes $875k in capital items for Greenwich Library, which is undergoing significant renovations, and $75k for ceiling tile replacement at Perrot Library. The Bruce Museum, which is also undergoing major renovation, will receive $125k for security upgrades. We voted against approving the Schools/Board of Education Operating Budget with a vote of 4- 7-1 (D1, 2, 7 and 8 voted Yes; D5 abstained). As a point of clarification, there was no motion made to reduce this item (which is the only way to have a separate vote on a line item at the full RTM meeting). Those voting Yes cited the following reasons: they felt the budget was adequate for our needs; they respect the judgment of the BET as our elected officials; they believe it's critical for the BOE to have a baseline budget in place now even if it isn't sufficient and are supportive of additional appropriations once the BOE has figured out what it needs; they believe that ongoing labor negotiations need to be progressed because it's irresponsible to support $2.7 million in salary increases when unemployment is at its highest levels in years; they don't like to use their vote simply as protest; they don't like the position the town would be in if we don't approve a budget. Two members voted No because they believe that the budget is too high. One said they believe there is "No acknowledgement by the district of the abundance of excess K-5 capacity in our schools, improving facility usage planning, and preparing for an era of forecasted declining enrollment." The other disagrees with how the money is being spent, "The increase Dr. Jones asks for is mostly for wages and doesn’t go towards the students. Further, the principals and teachers have not been asked to come to the table to figure out how we can deliver a better educational product in the fall." The other five No votes, oppose the budget because they believe it is too low. They feel that this budget doesn't represent the needs of schools or stated desires of constituents. Some wish that BOE and BET could meet in the middle and come together on this. They feel it's important to send a message to the BET that they should be listening to the people of the town and support the schools. They are upset that the BET changed the budget after the period of public comment, and would not open discussion up again even after receiving over 1,000 emails and a protest was held outside of town hall. They are concerned about putting BOE employees out of work and "want Greenwich to be the kind of town that shows some loyalty to their employees. All of this for savings in the neighborhood of $150 per family." They are concerned that " Funding for schools has been marginal for years. We’ve already cut teacher education programs, now we’re cutting media people during a time of distance learning. We've gone through a ridiculous number of Superintendents already. Don't do this to the new one." The member who Abstained said that they are opposed to this budget but don't want to see the BET budget go into effect either and chose to abstain because they weren't sure how to voice this view. We approved all remaining appropriations referred to the Education Committee with a vote of 12-0-0. These include: Operating Appropriations: • 315 DPW-- BOE Operating projects done by DPW (page 6) • 410 Health / Special Clinical (page 7) • 440 External Entities--Contribution to Bruce Museum (page 7) • 701 Greenwich Library (page 9) • 702 Peterson Wing (page 9) • 710 Perrot Memorial Library (page 9) • 801 Parks and Recreation Administration (page 9) Capital Appropriations: • 315 DPW – BOE Projects done by DPW (page 13) • 440 Bruce museum capital (page 14) • 680 Board of Education (page 14) • 701 Greenwich Library (page14) • 710 Perrot Memorial Library (page 14) • 822 Parks and Recreation--Pks/Play/Fields (pages 14-15) Revolving Funds: • 670 School Lunch Fund (page 18 ) Resolutions: • 43-46 Board of Education (pages 32-33) • 47-48 Libraries (page 34) • Additional Borrowing Authorization (pages 38-39) RTM Education Committee Liaison Budget Reports: May, 2020 D1, Robert Robins: NA D1, Andrea Anthony: Julian Curtiss D2, Erika Wilson: Central Middle School D2, Michele Klosson: Bruce Museum D3, Steven P. Rubin: Havemeyer, Hamilton Avenue D3 Louise Bavis: Hamilton Avenue D4, Alex Popp: New Lebanon D4, Ryan Smith: New Lebanon D5, Joan Thakor: Riverside D5, Hale McSharry: ISD D6, Barbara O’Neill: Old Greenwich D6, Janet McGuigan: Perrot Library D7, Kim Blank: Cos Cob, Havemeyer D7, Liz Perry: Eastern Middle School D8, Jennifer Freitag: Greenwich Library D8, Janet McMahon: North Street D8, Barbara Oxer: Bruce Museum D9, Abbe Large: Western Middle School D9, Seth Bacon: Glenville D10, Mareta Hamre: Western Middle School D10, Natalie Adee: Greenwich High School D11, Susan Fahey: Greenwich High School D11, Adam Leader: Parkway D12, Mary Flynn: North Mianus D12, Paula Mickley Legere: Central Middle School Havemeyer—GPS Central Administration • Steve Rubin (D3) and Kim Blank (D7) met with Superintendent, Dr. Toni Jones, and COO, Sean O’Keefe on Wednesday, March 4. • At the time of the meeting all were becoming concerned that the schools may need to close due to Covid, but no plans had yet been made • Since our meeting, we believe that Dr.