Residents Petition for Board Appropriation Request
NEWINGTON - Over 400 Newington residents are calling on the Town Council to approve a Board of Education requested $625,000 special appropriation from the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to its operating budget for the purpose of covering special education cost escalations, four teachers laid off during budget reductions, and two deferred instructors for the Newington High School STEM academies.

       The online petition-launched via the website Change.org by town residents Michael Branda and Dr. Forrest Helvie at 10 a.m. yesterday-had 470 signatures as of Tuesday morning. It calls for the Council to approve the Board’s request, citing parent and student concerns regarding the loss of teachers and subsequent class size increases, as well as further deferment of the high school STEM academy’s opening.

       Branda and Helvie plan to deliver it to the Council on June 1.

       â€"I'm definitely pleased with the total so far,” Branda wrote in an email correspondence Tuesday. â€"I was afraid the Town Council could say they didn't hear from enough parents to consider the change, but I hope we have opened their eyes today. We will continue to gain signatures for the next few days too.”

       Republican Majority Leader Beth DelBuono said that while the level of public involvement brought about by the petition is encouraging, the expressed concerns would best be brought before the Board because it decides how appropriated money is used.

       During Council and Board meeting comments, Superintendent of Schools Bill Collins has noted deferred maintenance items and other reduction areas-to close the gap between a 2.49 percent requested increase and the approved 0.29 percent-while reporting more than $600,000 in special education overages driven by last minute outplacements and new enrollment.

       Even if the $625,000 was appropriated, it would not cover every listed need, and special education costs-a mandate-must be prioritized first, he has said.

       Mayor Roy Zartarian and Deputy Mayor David Nagel declined a request for comment Tuesday morning, saying that they had not yet seen the petition.

       The petition comes a week after the Council discussed the Board request and a subsequent opinion issued by Town Attorney Ben Ancona.

       The Board letter-authored by Chair Nancy Petronio-cites Section C-807 in requesting that the funds be moved as a special appropriation. But Ancona’s opinion states that it would fall more in line with C-808-the Charter’s provision on transfers-while suggesting that declaring them as unencumbered would take an ordinance. The Council would not be able to move funds by transfer or special appropriation until the last six months of the fiscal year, he wrote.

       On Tuesday morning, DelBuono cited question marks regarding state aid, as well as the fact that the fiscal year has not begun yet, as her reasons for being hesitant.

       "It's difficult for me to make a decision on something that has not come to fruition yet," she said over the phone.

       So last week Councilors resolved to explore alternative ways to provide the funding-budgeted for the second phase of a John Wallace Middle School wing renovation project that has been delayed until 2019-with Democrats suggesting that they vote to commit the money now, and then transfer it in January.

       Members of the Republican Majority noted that a new Council may be at the table after this coming November, and wondered if such a motion would bind them to the transfer.

       Moving the money would not impact the 2017-2018 Mill Rate, but would add to the Minimum Budget Requirement for the Board in the following year, Republicans said.

       But the amount the district would save in averting additional magnet tuition costs by retaining STEM academy bound students would outweigh that of hiring the two teachers, Superintendent Bill Collins said last Tuesday night.

       Collins says that he needs a decision by June 2 in order for the district to run its class schedules on time. While he had originally thought that it could wait until June 13-the Council’s next meeting-he announced last Wednesday night that conversations with his staff prompted the earlier deadline.

       DelBuono said that while she has been in talks with officials from both bodies throughout the weekend, no special meeting has been scheduled as of this time.

       "We're definitely trying to figure something out," she said. "My biggest sticking point is the state budget. Until that passes on June 7, it will be difficult to make a decision on those funds."

       The opening of the aerospace and biomedical STEM academies-for this year, a least-hinges on whatever the Council decides. The district is still looking to hire two teachers to run the programs-already established at the middle level. There are 350 students already signed up for the high school level courses, the Board says.

       â€"Hundreds of students expected to take classes at Newington High School's STEM Academy, but now those students find themselves victim to budget cuts, even though the money is available without impacting the 2017-2018 taxes,” Branda and Helvie wrote in the petition. â€"Our town not only invested a large amount of money in the construction of the STEM Academy, and our students, who invested their time in the middle school STEM program, expected to continue their STEM education into High School.”

       Their full statement can be read at /www.change.org/p/newington-town-council-support-the-boe-s-request-to-fund-stem-unexpected-special-ed-costs-recall-layoffs ">https:/ /www.change.org/p/newington-town-council-support-the-boe-s-request-to-fund-stem-unexpected-special-ed-costs-recall-layoffs .

       Petitioner signers flooded the site’s comment threads with comments in support of the transfer, some recounting their own experience with the middle school STEM program and expressing a desire to continue.

       Taylor Jackson, a freshman, completed two years at Martin Kellogg’s biomedical sciences academy with her eye on a forensics oriented route once she entered the high school.

       â€"The cut of this program caused me to re-choose courses for my sophomore year that I had no interest in,” Jackson wrote in an email. â€"I feel that the Medical Academy will provide many opportunities for the students who want to fulfill a career in a medical field, but, this cut can drastically change that.”

      
STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA   |  May 30 2017  |  COMMENTS?