Hebron Dollars & Sense

Quick Summary of the Meeting:

About 15-20 public in attendance

Opening Public Comment: Multiple parents stood up and spoke in favor of C&E , music and ADK.

Mark did a presentation on the issue that has been raised about the potential for stimulus monies to go away next year. Did a very basic presentation on where the state gets revenue and where it spends the money. He pointed out that he feels it is highly unlikely that the state won't flat fund ECS next year- "scare tactics by those that don't like the budget".

Kathy Shea pointed out later that there are no guarantee's that the monies will be flat funded next year . (State ran a 1 Billion deficit last year, projects 500M this year.) Not obvious that theire shortfalls won't reach education.

Mark then showed their prioritized budget recommendation for the BOF meeting:


See attachment:




Several Board members ,Shea/Blinn indicated that they do not support the proposed cuts.

Discussion on ADK and the costs.. Member of public provided the #'s as outlined on the blog. Member of public questioned cost of full time curriculum director.


Board in General reiterated they are not in favor of any cuts as they feel it will impact education quality.

Attachment didn't attach, will try again....

3rd times the charm, will just copy and paste it in:

3/30/2010 Proposal


Current Budget 365,165

(1) Retirement 14777 This may be wrong!! I may have copied wrong!

Hypothetical I


C+ E Reduction (1) 61,500

.7 Music 24,539

4th Grade Teacher 61,500

Technology Lease 20,000

Sub Total 167,539



Hypothetical II


C+E (2) 61,500

Custodian 27,928

Sub total 89,428


Hypothetical III

Spanish Teacher 61,500

Spanish Resourse 8500

Spanish Supplies 1000

Paraprofessional 19,965

Supplies 5328

Sub total 96,293


Total 368,037

I saw the same figure you did for the retirement. I supposed it was the difference between the employment and pension salaries? Once again, responses re ADK were slippery and iffy, in my opinion. Lots of repeating that no one on the board wants to see these cuts, etc. Some encouraging of parents to contact the BOF and let them know that they don't want to see cuts.

Something is obviously not quite right ... educators usually fight for C&E. It is something parents fight for too. Probably offered this on the "chopping block" to create "outrage". Thanks to all of you for the update. It will be interesting to view the minutes.

I just remembered the news story yesterday where one individual stated the state is close to bankruptcy and soon they will be issuing IOU's similar to the CA situation. Wish I had the board's perception of reality ... everything in their world is fine, there are no cash-flow issues, life is good and will continue to be good and what we have today we will have tomorrow!!

Along those lines--Kathy Shea challenged Mark Allaben's suggestion that ECS will definitely be level-funded next year--that the state will take up the slack left by the departure of federal stimulus money. I believe that a member of the public did as well. O'Brien, Allaben, Dube, and Cruz are all in agreement that we are getting just as much money as we did last year, no question. Huh? No question? Do you have a direct line to the governor's office? Kathy tried to argue the position that what will happen next year is up in the air, and we need to be prudent in our planning. Someone, I think Ellie, said that we need to make the best plans for the district and not worry about where the $$ is coming from, or something to that effect. Wow. There are some tax-and-spend folks in Hartford who would just love her.

On a (somewhat) related note, the teachers in Windham have come to an agreement with the BOE regarding concessions, as reported by today's Willimantic Chronicle. Details to be revealed at tomorrow night's BOF meeting, I believe. There are some quotes from both the town and the union rep. First of all, there is a claim that the teachers in Windham make, on average, about $15K less than surrounding towns, which I am fairly certain is correct as compared to Hebron. Secondly, the attitude of all parties--re. the spirit of cooperation in a time of economic hardship--is wonderful. If we saw this attitude from other unions in the state, it would go a long way toward easing some of the economic tension this year. And I have mentioned before the climate that Windham teachers face in comparison to the teachers in Hebron, so I won't go into that again.