Finance panel unanimously approves $150.4 school budget

By John Schwing

WESTPORT — A $150.4 million operating budget for Westport’s public schools in 2025-26 won unanimous approval from the Board of Finance in a Monday night meeting that barely lasted one-half hour.

There were hints, however, that future education budgets will face much tougher scrutiny if they come before the finance panel with a spending increase similar to the 4.7 percent sought by school officials for the new fiscal year starting July 1.

Storm clouds on horizon?

With growing uncertainty over funding from state and federal governments, and a modest 1.3 percent rise in the town’s Grand List of all taxable properties last year, board member Jeff Hammer warned school officials that comparable increases in future budgets would not be “sustainable.”

As proposed, the education budget will comprise roughly 63 percent of all Westport’s public expenditures in the new fiscal year. In addition to the operating budget, the finance panel unanimously backed nearly $7.7 million to service the school district’s long-term debt.

The Board of Finance will continue deliberations on spending plans for the 2025-26 fiscal year when it convenes Tuesday to vote on the  $87.5 million budget proposed for town government departments by First Selectwoman Jennifer Tooker. The meeting will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Town Hall’s auditorium.

Following the finance board’s action on the $254 million combined budgets, which includes overall debt service and other miscellaneous expenses, the spending package goes to the Representative Town Meeting for a final vote in May.

Goldstein: No “fluff” in budget for “remarkable” schools

Board of Education Chair Lee Goldstein, referencing a detailed budget presentation school officials made to the Board of Finance on March 5, in brief remarks thanked the financiers for “investing” in the school district, which she described as “really remarkable, and nationally recognized.”

Nothing in the budget is “fluff,” “extra” or “frivolous,” according to Goldstein.

Among the “hard choices” that Goldstein said the school board made in trimming the budget recommended by Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice was elimination of three full-time positions, saving approximately $770,000 — two assistant principals for the elementary schools and a district facilities coordinator.

The board also cut two school buses from its fleet, she noted, and may eliminate more in the future if that planned reduction is not disruptive.

As in the last several years, the cost of the school district’s health insurance comprises a significant share of the budget increase, according to officials — projected at 1.01 percent of the overall 4.7 percent rise.

The biggest slice of the education budget remains salaries for certified and non-certified personnel. Under contractual agreements for 2025-26, the total amount paid certified staff will be $79.1 million, or 4.6 percent higher than this year, and for non-certified staff the total is $19.5 million, rising 4.9 percent.

Financiers laud budget, process

Finance board member Liz Heyer, who previously served on the school board, was the first to weigh in with a positive assessment of the school spending plans.

The Board of Education, she said, “did the hard work before [the budget] came to us,” making the finance panel’s job “easier.” Heyer added that she was particularly pleased to see a reduction in the school transportation account, but the budget as proposed left her with no specific questions.

Near the start of the budget season last December, a delegation of Board of Finance members came to a school board meeting to discuss spending goals for the coming year and issues they wanted school officials to consider when devising their budget request.

The financiers subsequently held several workshops to review the school budget numbers in detail.

When it came time for other finance members to comment, they expressed general agreement with Heyer.

Lee Caney, the board chair who is not seeking re-election this year, noted this marks the 12th year as a finance board member he’s had a role in reviewing an education budget request. The recent “collaborative” process between the two boards, he said, “has definitely gotten better” in contrast to “difficult” years in the past when school spending requests were “high” and there was “a lot of back-and-forth.”

Although Caney said he would have preferred a 2 percent budget increase, he understood the factors that drove this year’s 4.7 percent boost.

Harrington explains opposition to cutting jobs

The lone speaker from the public to address the finance panel Monday was Robert Harrington, a Board of Education member.

The only school board member to vote against the proposed budget’s bottom line, Harrington explained he opposed eliminating the funding for the two elementary assistant principals. They would have helped free principals to focus on things he feels are “lacking” in the town’s otherwise “really good” elementary schools, he said.

He also opposed cutting the district facilities coordinator job, a post he said is needed to help efficiently deliver on a looming list of school capital projects.

John Schwing, consulting editor of the Westport Journal, has held senior editorial and writing posts at southwestern Connecticut media outlets for four decades. Learn more about us here.