Superintendent’s Proposed Budget for FY 2017-18

“A legacy of learning and leading”

Budget Development ProcessMonth Date Activity

November 10 Budget forms and budget allocations distributed to each School/DepartmentDecember 21 School/Department budget due back to Central Offi ce

January 9 - 13 School/Department budget reviewed by Superintendent/Business ManagerJanuary 14 - 31 Business Offi ce - system wide budget due (salaries, transportation) February 6 BOE Finance sub committee budget work session (1 of 2)February 14 BOE Facilities and Technology sub committee budget work session February 27 BOE Finance sub committee budget work session (2 of 2)

March 1 Superintendent presents the 2017-18 Budget to the BOEMarch 15 Board of Education Adopts 2017-18 Budget March 20 Superintendent presents the 2017-18 BOE Approved Budget to the BOFApril 3 Finance sub committee (if needed)April 5 Board of Education 2017-18 Budget modification and approval (if needed)April 10 BOE budget submission to the newspaperApril 26 Superintendent presents the 2017-18 BOE Approved Budget to the Town of LitchfieldMay 10 Annual Town Meeting for budget adoption

Superintendent’s Budget HighlightsProposed Budget at $17,890,900 or 3.1%

• The Superintendent reduced the School Administration’s proposed budget by $580,127 from 6.5% to 3.1%• Salaries and benefits equal ~75% of the schools operating costs

• The Full Time Equivalency (FTE) are unchanged based on anticipated enrollment levels• School services are directly impacted by the quantity and experience of the staff employed

• Expanded student programming to include• Summer Academies • Legacy Program • Support of the one-to-one technology initiative• Additional preschool sections

• The administration will continue to maintain a strong operational focus on • Improving efficiencies • Entering into positive shared service agreements i.e. (Food Services, Fuel Oil, Health Insurance)• Student safety and energy efficiencies

District AccomplishmentsPK-12 alignment

• Rubicon Atlas curriculum platform updates• SRBI Committee developing aligned practices, protocols and procedures• K-12 Coordinator monthly meetings• Social/Emotional Learning Curriculum

Professional Development• Columbia Teachers College staff developer at LCS with expansion to LIS in 2017-2018• PK-12 district-wide PD focused on student engagement and CCT Rubric• PDEC work on evaluation document and professional learning plan for teachers

Programs• Legacy Program• Preschool enrollment increase• Summer Reading Program expansion at LCS• Collaboration with Greenwoods Counseling Referrals and the Litchfield Prevention Council on parent and teacher

workshops• Increased student retention related to Middle School programming• Alternative programming addressing the need for Special Education outplacements

National Rank (out of 15,819)

School Name State Graduation Rate

College Bound

College Readiness

Poverty

39 Weston High School CT 99.4 98.2 87.5 2.756 Wilton High School CT 99.1 95 85.3 2.4

116 Avon High School CT 99.2 92.9 82.5 6.8151 Ridgefield High School CT 98.2 90.1 80.6 3.1224 East Lyme High School CT 97.5 90.3 78.2 8.3267 Haddam-Killingworth High School CT 98.8 92.2 77.7 8.2286 Farmington High School CT 98.8 92 77.3 10.3325 Pomperaug High School CT 97.3 91.9 76.5 4.5339 Newtown High School CT 96.3 92 76.2 6348 South Windsor High School CT 99.1 90.1 75.8 10.1364 Litchfield High School CT 100 88.6 75.5 12.5371 Cheshire High School CT 99 99.2 76.4 7.2384 East Hampton High School CT 100 89.6 75.1 10.4389 Valley Regional High School CT 98.9 87.1 74.6 10.6407 Woodstock Academy CT 99.7 86.7 74.3 3.2471 Lyme-Old Lyme High School CT 98.9 86.7 72.8 5.4

Those measurements and their weight are:Holding power: 10 percentRatio of counselor/ full-time equivalent to student enrollment: 10 percentWeighted SAT/ ACT: 17.5 percentWeighted AP/ IB/ dual enrollment composite: 17.5 percentGraduation rate: 20 percentCollege enrollment rate: 25 percent

Newsweek looked at six measurements and weighted them to achieve a “college readiness index.” The rankings show how well high schools prepare students for college.

In all, 6,477 of the nation’s 15,819 public high schools met the criteria to be considered in Newsweek’s rankings.

Operational Highlights• Safety and Security- Improved safety and security of the School Campus:

Sally-ports, outside cameras, window film, and vendor background checks• Energy Efficiency Initiative- LED Lighting / Sally-Ports • Campus Beautification- Signage, landscaping, walkways, interior upgrades• Food Services- better service and a decreased subsidy to the district• Information Technology- Reorganization, Multi-Year Capital Plan, Infrastructure Audit• Consortium/Shared Services Agreements- Fuel Pricing, Food Service, Health Care• Custodial Services- Returning custodial service contract to the BOE-May 7th, 2017• Finance- Clean Audits, improved reconciliation between the schools and the town, monthly updates to

BOE and BOF, and ratification of all three union contracts completed• Special Education Student Records- have been scanned to an electronic form for ease of accessibility • Taxpayers in mind- We have accomplished this with modest school budget increases that average <2.5%

over a three year period

Salaries, 58%

Benefits, 16%

Custodial Services, 6%

Special Education, 5%

Regular Trans-portation, 5%

Plant Operations, 3%

Information Tech-nology, 2%

Pupil Services, 2%

District Wide Services, 2%

Regular Instruction, 1%

Outside Tuition, <1%

Superintendent's Proposed Budget 2017-18

Regular Instruction Budgeted at $234,260 (3.5%)

• Regular Instruction makes up 1.2% of the overall school budget• Includes High School Digital Art Studio• Expansion of Summer Reading

Program to include Math & Writing • Funding for the Legacy Program

Special EducationBudgeted at $957,050 (1.5%)

• Special Education makes up 5.0% of the overall operating budget and is difficult to forecast• We anticipate the net cost of outplaced

tuition to decrease• Outplaced student transportation costs

have increased due to individual needs• Outplaced student transportation is not

included in the All-Star Contract; this is typically done through local livery services

Pupil ServicesBudgeted at $333,941 (-8.3%)

• Pupil Services makes up 1.8% of the overall operating budget

• Guidance Services budgeted for curriculum improvement ($18,000) which is connected to an unfunded state mandate

• Prior budgets included a Food Service Subsidy that was funded under Student Activity Support (program 42). This subsidy was moved to Food Services (program 80) included in the District Wide Services

• This change provides more transparency for tracking the subsidy for future years.

• The Food Service Subsidy was previously budgeted at $46,000 and subsequently reduced to $16,000 because of the operational changes made last year.

Salaries & Wages

58%

Budgeted at $10,983,065 (4.4%)• Salaries and Wages makes up 58% of the

overall operating budget• Teacher wages equal ~ 30% of the increase • Special Education Instruction wages equal

~40% of the increase• one position added (2016-17)• internal movement of staff

• State and Federal Grant Funding is decreasing which equals ~20% of the increase • a transfer back to the General Fund

• All other wage changes equal ~10% of the increase

Enrollment LevelsSchool Year PK K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 PK-12 Legacy Outplaced **

Actual 2016-17* 40 69 65 68 59 55 69 66 78 83 82 72 65 75 946 4 28Est. 2017-18 52 72 69 65 70 59 55 69 66 79 84 83 72 65 960 4 24

Net 12 3 4 -3 11 4 -14 3 -12 -4 2 11 7 -10 14 0 -4*March 1st, 2017** Outplaced students are not included in PK-12 totals but are the fiscal responsibility of Litchfield

Employee Benefits

16%

Budgeted at $3,035,295 (8.2%)• Employee Benefits makes up 16% of the

overall operating budget• Health Insurance makes up 2/3 of employee

benefits. • Health Insurance is estimated to increase

15%. School and Town employees participate in the same self-insured pool• OPEB is funded at the direct cost amount not

the ARC• The school budget includes $236,000 for

employees that participate in the Town Pension Program

District Wide ServicesBudgeted at $326,199 (9.6%)• District Wide Services makes up 1.7% of

the overall operating budget• Board of Education budget includes an

increased cost related to legal services. It also includes prorated share of the annual audit. • Continues the commitment to fund staff

professional development activities• Includes Food Services (previously

budgeted under Pupil Services)

Plant OperationsBudgeted at $645,407 (12.2%)

• Plant Operations makes up 3.4% of the overall operating budget• Building Furniture was budgeted in the School

budget since it was removed from the Towns Capital Budget ($41,919)• Café Tables- Center School• Auditorium Microphone System- Auditorium• Student Workspaces- MS/HS

• Building Utilities • Fuel oil is up from $1.56/gal to $1.90/gal +18%

increase • Electric budget was unchanged and includes the

payment for the LED lighting upgrade - ~net zero

Information TechnologyBudgeted at $336,004 (-31.4%)• Information Technology makes up 1.8% of

the overall operating budget• The BOE Facilities and Technology Sub-

Committee reviewed the 5 year technology improvement plan• Hardware (-39%)

• Teachers desktops• Student Chromebooks• SmartBoards

• Software (-6.5%) • Includes all district software applications and

renewal licenses

Regular TransportationBudgeted at $944,178 (-1.0%)

• Regular Transportation makes up 5.0% of the overall operating budget

• The overall transportation budget is decreasing due to the successful negotiation with the existing transportation vendor

• Through negotiation the district was able to consolidate a bus route and replace the existing school bus fleet by next year

• Allowed by State Statute 10-220(a) and in compliance with the BOE procurement policy

• The daily rate was commensurate with nearby districts• Athletic & Field Trip costs are estimated to increase due to a

decrease in teacher driver participation

Outside TuitionBudgeted at $95,500 (-40.7%)

• Outside Tuition makes up 0.5% of the overall operating budget• Vo-Ag Tuition- decreased from 21 to

12 students (-$60,783)• Magnet School Tuition- decreased

from 2 students to 1 (-$5000)• Adult Education - Unchanged

Custodial ServicesBudgeted at $1,100,000 (Transfer from the Town of Litchfield)

• Custodial Services will make up 5.8% of the overall operating budget

• No impact on the Taxpayers of Litchfield• After several years of consideration the BOE

terminated the 2012 Custodial MOU with the Town of Litchfield (November 2016)• Budgeted at 0% increase based on the prior

year Town Budget• Includes 15 custodians & 1 manager position,

and the related supplies and equipment

Next Steps• Tonight you will receive the Superintendent’s

Proposed Budget Books, which include line item budget detail• Copies of these books will be shared with the Board

of Finance tomorrow, allowing time to review before the Superintendent’s presentation on March 20th • Over the next few weeks, the school administration

will be available to answer budget questions• Please direct all inquiries through Central Office

• We are asking the BOE to adopt an operating budget at the March 15th meeting

Thank you for your dedication and ongoing support of the Litchfield Public Schools