By Curt Peterson
Days after the Windsor Central Unified School District Board approved a FY2020 budget of $17 million on Monday, Jan. 27, the board had to make major revisions due to an incorrect student count.
The proposed budget included per-pupil spending of $18,733—just $23 less than the state-mandated maximum of $18,756. The proposal was based on an equalized pupil count of 913, a figure Finance and Operations Director Mike Concessi told the board he was “99% sure was accurate.”
At the Jan. 27 meeting, Concessi had produced an email from state Education Finance Director Brad James, implying the 913 number was accurate.
Superintendent Mary Beth Banios told the board she received an email from James at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 29 conveying a list of pupil counts for each district. WCUSD was credited with only 904.88 equalized pupils. A $2 penalty for every $1 over the mandated cost would represent over $200,000 in penalties the district would have to make up.
If the budget remained as originally approved, the penalty would impose a 3 to 4 cent increase in the district education tax rate, board co-chair Paige Hiller said.
“Every $50,000 of a district’s budget that is penalized represents a 1 cent increase in the tax rate,” Banios advised.
Banios and Hiller called an emergency meeting Thursday, Jan. 30. Eight of the 18 board members showed up in person and four more participated via telephone conference network.
“The finance committee has committed to avoiding any per-pupil spending penalties, ever,” Woodstock representative Ben Ford told the board.
Banios distributed a sheet comparing the Jan. 27 budget to a possible replacement budget totaling $16,896,833, a reduction of $200,000, and net per-pupil spending of $18,673 —$60 below the state-mandated maximum.
Because detailed budget discussions would involve “personnel and contract issues,” Killington representative Jim Haff asked for an executive session.
Following the executive session Haff told the Mountain Times the board had approved the $16,896,833 amended budget proposal, and had made some suggestions to Banios for implementing the necessary $200,000 savings. The finance committee was scheduled to meet Wednesday, Feb. 5 to discuss progress, after the Mountain Times’ deadline.
The board has to have the final proposed budget ready for a Feb. 27 public meeting at which the budget will be discussed in detail.
