PTO Meeting 3/16/17 Attendance: Kate Goyette Julie McHugh Katie Mondo Lia Odell Amy Cavaliere John Eigo Elizabeth Richer Stephanie Batch Candice Boyle Leah Cybart Jenn Lafferty Jennifer Minucus Nicole Morganthaler Amy Merriman Samantha Giugno Ninel Cusa Alicia Desanti David Cusa Jennifer Connolly Tom Halligan Becky Kosisko Jim Agostine Meeting Started at 9:33am by Ninel Cusa Budget Presentation by Jim Agostine: Overview of the budget presented and the cuts the State is planning to the town. -­‐ This is the most peculiar he has seen in his 37 years of experience. -­‐ No one knows exactly what to do especially because the State budget isn’t due until June and discussions, revisions and votes could go until December. Items hurting our school budget already: -­‐ We are a self-­‐insured district and funds ran down to $200k and should be at $2 million, so that needs to be corrected. -­‐ 17 students with IEP’s (special needs) moved into the district just last year and that put us -­‐$400k. These funds were frozen after Christmas. -­‐ Just these two things puts us $1.6 million up on the budget from what we initially proposed. To have no cuts at all in the budget we need approximately 10% increase in taxes, however that falls primarily on homeowners/residents of Monroe. Board of Finance and Board of Education are proposing a $1 million cut in the education budget, which is a 0% increase to minimize tax increases. How do we get there? Here is the worksheet presented by Jim Agostine detailing what would be cut to get the various levels of cuts in the Education Budget. 0% increase ($1 million cut) – 6.5 teachers cut To get to -­‐5% -­‐ 28 ½ teachers K-­‐8: there is no grade level in any of the schools where a teacher could be removed that class size would not go above 30 students Where can we eliminate teachers? – 8 reading teachers; music, could cut AD at high school level; cut sports for $280k, cut clubs for $230k, assistant principal for $120k For -­‐$10milllion we need to be down an additional 33 teachers. In any scenario we haven’t really looked at cutting many teachers from Masuk because we’re up for our NEASC accreditation in 2 years and there are so many places where we need to meet standards and it’s too risky to cut too many things because we absolutely need the accreditation. 2 weeks ago several administrators from BOE went to Hartford, met with the legislature, marched in a protest and talked to 5 different representatives including Marilyn Moore, however most of her population is in Bridgeport, so it’s very concerning that she’ll support the State Budget. There are an approximate (fixed) number of Monroe residents (about 3,000) that will vote “No”. The yes votes don’t usually beat out the no votes in the 1st or 2nd vote. The key this year is to get everyone out to vote YES the first round on April 4th. March 21st – Board of Finance needs to come up with actual numbers to vote on. To save the budget it will cost most residents $1000 in taxes per year. Question/Answer Session: Question (parent) -­‐ What’s motivating the governor? What’s happening at the State level to cause this? Answer (Agostine) – One major concern is the teacher’s retirement fund (pension) that was created in 1917. It was decided that teacher’s wouldn’t contribute to social security and instead teachers would put 6.5% into a retirement fund and the State was supposed to fund the balance, but the State has never done this. At best the State only put in 40%; to get out of this the State needs to make up $400 million in addition to the regular payments. Now the State wants to put it on the town even though it’s the State’s responsibility. The State has failed in funding gov’t pensions too. They’re now worried about paying out sick time and vacation time, etc. Question – In terms of today’s discussion this has been focused on what to do to make cuts…have there been any discussions of how to generate money to fund things? Answer (Agostine) – there just isn’t that kind of money. Monroe attempted to create an education foundation 8 years ago but it was never successful. There are some towns that are just moving forward with their budgets without making the cuts and hoping that the Governor’s budget doesn’t pass, but that is very risky. Question – Could we (the State) bond this or something? Answer (Agostine) -­‐in 2000 the state took out a $25billion bond to cover the teacher retirement fund shortage. Question – If the thought is that the State’s threat is illegal, should we just push the budget forward? Answer (Agostine) – Many other districts aren’t changing budgets; Monroe thinks there’s a good chance there will be cuts at least…it may not be as bad but there will be cuts so we should still be proactive. Monroe has been getting $6.5 million in State funds and many other towns that are in our DIRG only get $2-­‐4 million in funding, so we stand a good chance to lose some funding regardless. Question – What about special education? What does this mean for Special education students? Answer (Agostine)– Special education really cannot be cut especially if kids are on an IEP (Individualized education plan) because it’s illegal to not provide those resources because it’s mandated that they’re provided. Question – If we are at a 0% increase and $2.5 million cuts Answer (Agostine) – 4.4% increase on property taxes; if we are to just absorb the cuts in tax increases we’re looking at a 10% increase in property taxes. Question – If we don’t think the State will cut everything they’re proposing, what’s the best guess at which cuts we’re looking at? Answer (Agostine) – Best guess is we’re looking at $1 million cut; we would look at 6.5 teachers being cut and most of that would be absorbed in retirements. Question – The transportation budget is increasing, why is that? Answer (Agostine) – 4 years ago we were told to get buses off town property; we had to go buy property and develop it to house the buses. In going through the P & Z process, they required certain things and that has cost an extra $500k. We’re paying about $352 per bus per day…several towns pay $400 per bus per day; we have 5 more years before we go over that, so Monroe’s transportation costs are still lower than many surrounding towns. -­‐Our budget has been extremely lean for the past 5 years and we’ve cleaned out a lot of things to be where we are…the problem is now we have very little to cut. Question – What about closing STEM? Answer (Agostine) – Intially we created the STEM program for space issues more than anything a few years ago…running the satellite program is costly – there’s an extra administrator needed and other redundancy in staff. -­‐ There are some great things that have been learned in the STEM program and several programs have been put in place in the mainstream program at Jockey Hollow but STEM probably can’t go away. There still isn’t room for the extra 225 students at Jockey Hollow. Question – What about Chalk Hill? Answer (Agostine) -­‐ Chalk Hill building needs about $11 million worth of work to get it up to par, so it’s a costly option to get it in working order. -­‐ Closing Monroe Elementary? Question – When do we find out what Malloy puts through for budget? Answer (Agostine) – June is when budget is due but the State can extend well into September so we are flying blind for the time being. End of Budget Meeting/PTO Business: (Moderated by Becky Kosisko because Ninel needed to return to class) Budget: Candice Boyle -­‐ Budget for 2017-­‐18 reviewed in detail -­‐ A few key items discussed as follows: -­‐ Apparel sale did ok; Book fair will be on target; Directory did better and covered the cost of that; Fall catalog didn’t do as well…message put out to see what other fundraisers people want to see. -­‐ Opt out only brought in $450 this year despite parents saying they like that idea; Walkathon brought in about $3500, but this is down from previous years…discussions of how to bring this back up – change it to a weekend or make it an obstacle course. -­‐ Non fundraiser items such as Ice cream Social and Trick or Trunk did fine and came in where they should, but there have been discussions to make these fundraiser events to help increase funds. -­‐ Fence project for the garden is complete– just got final bill from Chris Davis and that’s coming out where it should. -­‐ Playground improvement -­‐ $41k but that was covered by PNO; there is still discussion and investigation into adding the shade structure for primary playground. Tom Halligan made a motion to approve the budget and second by Amy Merriman. All present voted yes. PTO Budget for 2017-­‐18 school year approved. **Looking for a treasurer for next year** Shade structure – Tom Halligan -­‐ Will cost about $22k (20’ x 20’ -­‐ $22,500k for structure and installation 18’ x 24’ -­‐ $21,500k)…per town regulations the footings need to be 1 foot below-­‐grade, which is a little more costly and is bringing the price up.
-­‐ The playground company’s installation fee is $7500 (included in the overall cost). -­‐
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Looking into the Kimball group for an estimate on installation. Jackie and Katie Mondo are present and Kate Goyette suggested checking with the construction portion of their company. Tom suggested that we wait another month and see where the town budget vote puts us in case there are more pressing things we need to fund. Trick Or Trunk new ideas – -­‐ Allow walk-­‐ins and PTO purchases all candy? -­‐ Allow walk-­‐ins and charge them more than cars since those attendees supply the candy? -­‐ Maybe have students purchase wristbands if we have walk-­‐ins? -­‐ Food trucks instead of sandwiches? -­‐ Needs to be discussed further at next meeting and decided prior to the start of the school year. Box Top – ends March 31st; get box tops in! What can PTO do in regards to budget vote? -­‐ Work with Ninel Cusa & Jen Connolly to put something out through Room Reps -­‐ Concise & factual, but informative -­‐ The PTO and school cannot really tell people how they should vote, though. Staff appreciation committee meeting tonight at 7pm in teachers lounge Question about when the last day of school is now…June 22nd is the last day as of 3/16/17. Meeting adjourned at 10:50AM