BOE's 2015-2016 Proposed Budget

Dear New Canaan Community,

The sustained success of the New Canaan Public Schools has earned the district a national reputation as a premier school system. With our world-class faculty and staff, engaged and supportive parents, and the greater New Canaan community working together in the continuous pursuit of excellence for all, our outcomes place the district consistently among the best in the state and nation. Our ongoing success is the direct result of the investment the New Canaan community continues to make in its public schools. The Board of Education, administration, and staff are committed to maintaining and, where appropriate, increasing the breadth and depth of programs and opportunities available to students while focusing on being responsible stewards of the district’s resources, financial and otherwise. Over the past decade, we have expanded our programs to include areas of high interest and relevance for today’s learners; each time, we have maximized the impact of available resources and looked to capitalize on efficiencies. In all that we do, we are dedicated to meeting and exceeding the high expectations and standards of the New Canaan community as we pursue our mission to ensure that every student has the character, competence, and courage to change the world, both today and in the complex and dynamic future ahead.

Our schools are guided by both Board of Education and District goals, which are translated into action at the building and classroom levels. Early in the budget process, the Board and administrators use these goals to develop a set of budget assumptions and priorities, which guide our work throughout the budget development and refinement process by clearly aligning budgetary items to district goals and articulating stakeholders’ values and beliefs about learning. As the budget process has unfolded for 2015-2016, we have dedicated our efforts to maintaining the quality of each program, containing operational budget drivers, adapting to the continuing trend of increasing enrollment, and identifying high-leverage program areas for enhancement and support.

With a recommendation of $84,809,121 in annual operating budget expenditures, an increase of 4.87%, the 2015-16 Board of Education Budget is comprised of multiple drivers, the majority of which are tied to contractual obligations, enrollment, insurance, Board of Education policy guidelines, and increasing costs in plant operations and maintenance.

As is common in Connecticut, the largest budgetary items for New Canaan’s proposed budget, comprising 81%, are salary and benefits for our district’s nearly 750 employees.
Approximately $314,612 (0.4% of the overall request) is a direct result of the increasing student enrollment district-wide. Due to that increase, two middle school teachers and one elementary teacher are included in the Board’s budget. Additionally, at Saxe, one custodian and two supervisory aides are included in anticipation of 42 additional students at the middle school next year, and an additional 60+ in 7th grade year-over-year.
Three mobile carts at Saxe will enable us to transform two existing stand-alone computer labs into the two general-use classrooms needed for the new 7th grade teachers.
The most significant driver in this year’s operating budget is healthcare insurance, which is fully funded in the Board of Education’s budget. The total cost of the Board’s insurance budget is increasing approximately 6.5%, which is in line with, or below, industry averages. However, to fully fund the insurance budget, without using reserves as we did this year, requires an increase of 16%, or $1,600,000 overall. Fortunately, in cooperation with the town, the Board is confident that we will once again be able to use some of the insurance reserves to help offset this significant increase. Of the 4.87% overall operating budget increase, 2% is attributable to this budgetary item. We continue to pursue cost containment strategies in our healthcare programs as well, such as implementing a High Deductible Health Plan with our teachers, negotiating premium share contribution amounts with each of our bargaining units at or above the regional averages, and continually monitoring plan design to identify opportunities for savings.
In addressing district-wide facility needs, a year ago the school system began budgeting for facility maintenance and repair, which had been moved from the operational budget into a non-recurring capital account. This year, the proposed 2015-2016 budget once again includes these essential costs, with the understanding that they continue to be the ongoing responsibility of the district as stewards of these valuable community assets.
In previous years, the anticipated reimbursement amount from the state through the Special Education Excess Costs Grant was subtracted from the district out-placements budget, thereby representing the true cost to the school system. In 2014-2015, the Town began receiving this reimbursement; therefore, as this is a new process, this budget takes a conservative approach and represents the total expenditures without the state reimbursement, which adds approximately $600,000 to the proposal. As with the insurance budget, the Board of Education is hopeful that, in cooperation with the town, this budgetary item can be reduced in the future as well.
The network upgrades at the elementary schools, part of the capital budget, are the second phase of this work, which began in 2014-2015; now that the networks at Saxe and NCHS have been upgraded to meet the needs of today’s learners, what remains are the networks at the elementary schools. In today’s technology-enhanced learning environment, the speed and reliability of the network infrastructure can either be an empowering or limiting factor for learning. In this year’s budget proposals, our upgrades at the elementary schools serve to ensure teachers are able to expand and extend student learning across the curriculum with technology K-12.

The Board of Education’s 2015-16 budget meets our contractual obligations as well as our commitment to the community, while enabling us to continue in our mission on behalf of every child in our care. Over the next few months, the Board of Education’s budget will be reviewed by the Board of Selectmen, Board of Finance, and the Town Council. We encourage you to learn more about the budget online at our website (http://newcanaan.k12.ct.us), and to participate throughout the process by attending meetings and communicating with your town representatives. As you learn about the Board of Education’s 2015-2016 budget, we hope that you will keep in mind the promise it ultimately represents: that tomorrow will be made greater by our investment in the students of today.

Respectfully,

Bryan D. Luizzi, Ed. D.
Superintendent, New Canaan Public Schools

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