REGION 16 — The Region 16 Board of Education last week transferred $939,279 to contingency to cover cuts in state education funding.
A prolonged state budget stalemate came to an end when the legislature approved a $41.3 billion two-year plan in late October. The lengthy budget impasse left municipalities in limbo in regards to how much funding the state would give them, especially education aid.
Beacon Falls and Prospect, the two towns that make up the Region 16 school district, were among 85 municipalities that were slated to receive nothing for their Education Cost Sharing grant — the largest education payment made by the state — under an executive spending plan issued by Gov. Dannel Malloy.
If the entire grant was cut for both towns it would have meant a total loss of about $9 million. However, the final tally wasn’t nearly as bad.
According to figures provided by the state Office of Policy and Management, Prospect’s ECS grant was cut $264,880 this fiscal year, while Beacon Falls’ grant was cut $203,396.
Superintendent of Schools Michael Yamin said the region also lost some of its special education grant, though the exact amount was unclear last week. He said the region will absorb the cuts and not ask the towns to cover them.
“We’re going to pay for the cuts in our contingency,” Yamin said.
The money transferred to the board’s contingency came from various accounts. The largest transfer — $205,000 — was from money set aside to pay for unexpected outplacements of special education students.
Special education students that have needs that can’t be met in the district attend schools outside of the region. Yamin said the region budgets about $445,000 a year to pay for tuition and busing for three unanticipated outplacements of students that may come into the district during the school year.
Yamin said the district hasn’t had any unexpected outplacements so far this school year. Every month that those funds aren’t spent, he said, the district saves about $50,000.
The board also transferred $250,000 from projected savings in staff salaries and benefits.
Yamin said the district held off on hiring seven positions at the start of the school year due to the uncertainty surrounding the state budget. The money transferred includes funds that would have been spent on those position, he said.
Other areas where the district identified possible savings include in unemployment, technology, natural gas and electricity.
“Initially, when I started this process, we were cutting $9 million,” Yamin said. “We didn’t know where we were. So we’ve been saving and moving money to make sure that we had enough.”
