Rocky Hill Democratic Committee Explains the Facts about Board of Education Budget Increase

For days now the Republican Town Committee (hereafter RTC) has been posting negative comments about the unanimously passed bipartisan Board of Education (BOE) budget. The Rocky Hill Democrats want to respond by providing more details and facts about the increase to our residents.  

• The RTC wanted a 6% increase on the total BOE budget which they said is responsible.

• The RTC claims there is no transparency on staff salaries and benefits but this is confusing since it was contracted under the RTC.

• Unfortunately, because of what is happening at the federal government level, the cost of school staff benefits increased by 17%.  So existing school salaries and benefits alone caused a 6.9% increase to the budget.  This is a happening across the state and country.

• Let’s read that again. The RTC said that a 6% total increase in the BOE budget is responsible.  However, existing staff salaries and benefits are at a 6.9% total increase before even buying a piece of chalk. So the RTC already understood that a 6% increase would mean layoffs.

• The lowest transportation bid came in 14% higher and we are required by law to bus students. Adding transportation to salaries and benefits brings us to a 7.73% increase. So in order to reach the Republican 6% increase, that is roughly removing 5.5 teacher positions!

• Remember, we haven’t even looked at everything else needed to run a school. Not even a pencil or piece of chalk.

• Six (6) years of underfunding caused us to have 11 less elementary teacher positions. Classes are growing because of it. As teachers retired, many weren’t able to be replaced due to budget constraints.  For years the Central office did the best they could to creatively move teachers around.

• How many more teachers does the RTC want to remove? At least 10 to reach 6% and still operate a school?

• Last year, during the past administration, the BOE was underfunded by $650,000. The school administration was forced to cut world languages, a summer school program, some funding for field trips, couldn’t hire a teacher, and combined a special education program together. So this sent the schools backwards. That’s where the schools were at when Rocky Hill Superintendent Dr. Mark Zito recommended just maintaining what we had.

• Don’t get us wrong, our teachers are amazing! We are ranked 26 in best district while being in the bottom 25% in per pupil spending.

• So, the bottom line is…to keep underfunding our schools and expect the same results is not feasible. We can’t expect to have the same results with less teachers and more kids.

So the Republican Town Committee (RTC) can either choose to join the bipartisan BOE to move our schools forward or continue to make unserious posts online. The Rocky Hill Democratic Committee asks the RTC to either join us or explain in detail with the numbers how they would come to an increase lower than salaries and benefits alone while getting the same results.