The Brookfield Board of Education is expected to further debate the potential consequences of the Board of Finance proposal that reduces its request by more than $1 million at its meeting tonight at 7 p.m. in the Brookfield High School library.
School board and town leaders may argue over the exact amounts, based on various accounting measures, but the bottomline is that the two sides are in opposite directions on the amount the school district requires to maintain a quality program, one that includes proper student-to-staff ratios given the demands of the curriculum today, offers a top-quality world language program required to be competitive and offers student opportunities for extracurricular and athletic endeavors.
One area of contention is whether or not the school board should cover the expense for the school resource officers put into the municipal budget last year.
First Selectman Bill Tinsley and the Board of Finance have stated the two positions are in the budget, with money to cover them, but there is a difference of opinion on whether the expense should be borne by the Police Department or the school system. Tinsley maintains the expense should be accounted for by the entity that is receiving the service.
But Tinsley and Board of Finance Chairman Phil Kurtz have stated that if the school board does not agree to cover the cost the money will remain in the Police Department budget, and the adjustments to the school budget will be made accordingly.
A new group of parents and staff are rallying together to try and protest the reductions as a deteriment to the school district that benefits not only families with children but anyone who owns a home in town. They intend to have a rally at 6:15 p.m. on Tuesday night before the 7 p.m. Board of Finance public hearing scheduled on the town and school 2014/15 budget that now totals about $60.5 million, $38.315 million of that for the schools.
The current school budget is $3829 million before adjustments for school pension costs and the school resource officers. The combined difference of those two is about $285,000.
Public comment is offered at the school board meetings.