With a new school year underway, the Board of Education's September 11, 2023, meeting was focused largely on budgets and expenditures. Charmaine Bradshaw-Hill, Director of Finance and Operations, was on hand to explain more about the current state of the school budget.
In regards to the financial report for the 2022 - 2023 fiscal year, Bradshaw-Hill explained the district attended the Board of Finance meeting on July 31, 2023, to request that funds due to the district be credited to their budget. This includes the Excess Cost Grant reimbursement and expenses paid by the district for the middle school water vault and roof projects.
There was also plenty of good news on the budget front. Income for Medicaid and E-rate (a program that provides discounts on essential broadband services for schools and libraries across the country) was higher than originally budgeted. Additionally, some purchases ended up costing less than anticipated, leading to some savings.
But there were also approximately $15,000 in outstanding purchase orders, which will be closed out at the end of September, even if the purchase isn’t completed. There is an estimated $1,000 remaining in the budget at this time, but as FY22 budget is closed out, that $15,000 may mean the budget is over-expended.
However, Superintendent Steven Moccio pointed out that when the Borough School is sold, the proceeds are earmarked to be spent on the elementary schools. He said that the proceeds will go into the district’s 2% fund. BOE Chair Laura Lybarger said she attended the recent Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at which the sale of the school was discussed and that a judge needs to sign off on the sale. This is the only thing standing between the sale and construction. In October of last year, the sale of the school to Bluebird Construction was approved for $275,000 at town meeting.
Attention turned to the financial report for July 1, 2023, through August 31, 2023. Superintendent Moccio said that, compared to last year, the district budgeted for more anticipated revenue from Excess Cost and pre-kindergarten tuition due to the increase in cost to parents. Three open positions have been filled. Ms. Bradshaw-Hill reported that, at least as of now, everything seems to be on track. She said that benefits will be encumbered when the employee deductions begin.
When the discussion moved on to the Cafeteria Profit and Loss Statement, we learned the program ended last fiscal year with a balance of $139,587.66, and Elizabeth LaPane, Director of Food Services, anticipates needing to spend some of the revenue on repairing and replacing equipment.
The board went into two executive sessions before the meeting ended. The first regarded an update related to CSEA bargaining agreement. No action was ultimately taken.
The second regarded a confidential student matter. The board ultimately adopted the stipulated agreement between another Connecticut public school district, Student A, and Student A’s mother, as written.
As always, the BOE meeting was recorded and made available for viewing.