By LISA CAPOBIANCO
STAFF WRITER
With the Board of Education still finding a way to reduce $1 million from the Fiscal Year 2016-2017 budget, members of the district community urged school officials not to cut positions in the arts and college support programs.
Dozens of students, parents, teachers and administrators filled the auditorium of the Board of Education offices during a special meeting held last Thursday to support music and theater programs, as well as the AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program, which is designed to help traditionally underrepresented groups transition into a four-year university setting.
During the meeting, Bristol Superintendent of Schools Dr. Ellen Solek presented the board with a draft list of proposed reductions, including staff reductions through attrition. The draft list also included other proposed reductions in supplies, materials, software and hardware needs.
After working on possible solutions with the Board of Finance in recent months, the Board of Education is now searching for ways to reduce the school budget by $1 million instead of the initial $3 million that was requested by the city.
“We will do whatever we can to get through this,” said Solek, adding that the draft list is subject to change.
“No one wants to be in this position to make these reductions,” said Board of Education Chairman Chris Wilson. “But we’re in very difficult times.”
During the meeting, Lea McCabe, a teacher at Bristol Central High School, said AVID is more than a program.
“We are a family who makes real differences in each other’s lives,” said McCabe. “This year will be the first graduating class of AVID students at BC [Bristol Central]—all ten seniors will be attending college in the fall.”
Many Bristol Central High School students in AVID also spoke before the board, sharing their story about how the program has made an impact on their lives.
For Dyana Tovar, the AVID program has helped her with time management while becoming more confident in school. A senior at Bristol Central, Tovar will attend the University of Hartford, where she received a scholarship.
“Coming into my senior year I stressed nothing more than the college application process because none of my parents attended college,” said Tovar, who was the 2015 Youth of the Year at the Bristol Boys & Girls Club. “With the help and guidance of my AVID class I applied to seven colleges, and was accepted to all of them.”
Allen Grunerud, an English teacher who serves as the director of the drama program at Bristol Eastern High School, advocated for the arts.
“We have to talk about investment too,” said Grunerud.
“The program we have is so big and…so great,” said Lindsey DiPietro, an English and drama teacher at Bristol Central High School. “We have so many kids—I have athletes running from practice to rehearsal and back and forth.”
After public comments, Board of Education Commissioner Tom O’Brien assured the school community that programs they advocated for during the meeting are not going to be cut.
“It is highly unlikely that the majority of these programs will be cut,” said O’Brien, adding that there are other options.
Wilson added the district anticipates further reductions in the budget long-term.
“We still probably have more cuts to make in the future,” said Wilson, adding that Bristol has a significant funding gap in education.
“We don’t know what that looks like yet,” added Solek.
Meanwhile, the city is expected to lose $1.3 million in revenue from the state, including $600,000 in the Education Cost Sharing grant. Earlier last week, the Board of Finance voted during a special meeting to appropriate $600,000 in the city budget to make up for that gap in education funding from the state.
City Comptroller Glenn Klocko said when the state reduced its revenues to municipalities like Bristol, the effect is an increase in taxes at the local level. Due to this loss in revenue from the state budget, said Klocko, the city’s mill rate is expected to increase less than a mill. The current mill rate in Bristol is 34.61 mills.
“All they did was pass it on to the municipalities, and Bristol, like all the other municipalities that lost revenue have to increase their taxes to make up for it or reduce services,” said Klocko. “People expect a certain level of services and it was the desire of the mayor and Board of Finance to not offset the revenue losses with deep cuts into the services.”
On May 13, state lawmakers passed a $19.7 billion budget for next fiscal year, and the deficit is projected to be over $900 million. According to the Associated Press, a letter sent from Governor Dannel Malloy’s budget office to the state comptroller stated that the state’s general fund will end this fiscal year (on June 30) with a $260 million deficit.
“We’re hearing from our state representatives that next year is going to be worse than this year,” said Klocko. “We’re expecting more of the same if not worse—that’s going to be a very difficult situation to manage.”