Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Money
  • Election 2020
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Money
    Election 2020
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Budget pressure pushes schools to regional cooperation

  • by Robert A. Frahm
  • November 9, 2010
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

NORWICH – When this cash-strapped town closed its schools for spring vacation last April, it still had to pay to keep school buses rolling.

The school district continued operating buses for students attending programs outside the district, including a New London magnet school and state-run technical and agricultural high schools.

Norwich school bus

Norwich school bus: Transportation is one area that could be regionalized (Robert A. Frahm)

The cost of running the buses that week, about $20,000, could have been saved if all of the schools had been on the same vacation schedule, officials said.

This week, the Norwich Board of Education is expected to vote to join other districts in adopting a common school calendar to avoid such conflicts, hoping eventually to coordinate schedules with more than two dozen school systems in the region.

Pressured by Connecticut’s mounting fiscal crisis, school districts are warming to the idea of working together to hold down costs – a sharp break from the longstanding Yankee tradition of local control and immutable district boundary lines.

“We need to let go of these border lines and boundaries that inhibit and make education costs so expensive,” said Charles Jaskiewicz, Norwich’s school board chairman. “We really need to work on regionalizing better.”

A uniform school calendar could be one of the first steps. Educators also are discussing regional approaches to health insurance, purchasing agreements, busing and even curriculum, especially as schools across the state brace for more layoffs and budget cuts next year.

“I think [regionalism] is being pursued more seriously now than I’ve ever seen it,” said Joseph Cirasuolo, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents.

In other parts of the nation, too, school districts increasingly are looking for ways to share costs and work together under the pressure of tight budgets, especially in states with numerous small districts confined to small geographic areas, said Bruce Hunter, associate executive director of the American Association of School Administrators.

“That is going on almost everywhere,” he said. “It’s money. It’s efficiency. It’s also access to resources.”

The budget crisis is particularly urgent in places such as Norwich, where the school district laid off more than 10 percent of its workforce this year, closed two schools and saw class sizes balloon.

Jaskiewicz, the board chairman, sees potential savings in areas such as busing, where he believes neighboring towns could jointly operate buses to take students to state-operated technical high schools, for example. Under the current system, he said, “A lot of times you’ll see a bus going down the highway with only a handful of students on it, and other towns will follow the same route.”

Officials from Norwich and other nearby districts also are exploring the possibility of cooperative arrangements for insurance coverage,” Jaskiewicz said.

The push for regional cooperation gained momentum last January when Democrats in the state House of Representatives created the Commission on Municipal Opportunities and Regional Efficiencies (MORE) to examine potential collaborations among towns, school districts and regional organizations.

More recently, the issue was raised by an ad hoc committee of the State Board of Education. The committee, which is studying school finance, has asked the state’s regional education service centers to collect information on the feasibility of cooperative approaches to busing and insurance coverage.

There are six regional education service centers in Connecticut, assisting school districts in areas such as special education, technology, curriculum development, professional training and purchasing.

“This year, more than ever, we’re engaged in discussions to help [districts] put people together to reduce costs,” said Craig Edmondson, executive director of ACES, a regional center based in North Haven.

Some educators believe the legislature’s passage of a major school reform law earlier this year, including new graduation requirements, could lead to a more standardized statewide curriculum. “If that were to take place . . . it may help school districts to not spend significant resources to develop [their own] curriculums,” Edmonson said. A common curriculum also could allow for districts to make joint purchases of textbooks.

“We need to think differently than we have in the past,” Edmondson said.

The major factor behind the renewed interest in regional cooperation is the sputtering economy, including a looming $3.3 billion state budget deficit.

“All of this has come with the recession,” said Bruce Douglas, executive director of the Capitol Region Education Council, a regional agency covering Greater Hartford. “How can we create economies of scale so we can reallocate needed resources back to the classroom?”

In Connecticut, nearly all of the state’s 169 towns operate their own separate school districts and often cling fiercely to the notion of local autonomy – even in towns with only a few hundred students.

Nevertheless, said Douglas, “There are multiple ways [regionalism] can work – information technology services, technology repair, facilities management, food services, transportation. Probably the most important one is health benefits and regional contracts.”

Joint purchasing agreements already are relatively common as districts join municipal cooperatives or other school systems to buy paper, classroom materials, custodial supplies and other materials. “I’ve been doing that for years,” said Maria Whalen, the business and finance director for New London’s public schools.

In Plainville, public schools are involved in cooperative purchasing arrangements for things such as special education services, paper, copiers, oil and electricity, said Richard Carmelich, the school system’s director of finance and operations.

“Most districts do at least some things regionally,” he said. “We’re part of a number of consortiums.”

As educators squeeze what they can from their budgets, they are expecting little, if any, additional help this year from the state. Lawmakers will be hard-pressed just to maintain existing levels of state aid to schools.

“I think the smart districts are the ones being creative,” said State Sen. Thomas Gaffey, D-Meriden, co-chairman of the legislature’s Education Committee. “The budget situation we’re in really dictates that.”

Gaffey is among advocates for regional cooperation, including a common statewide school calendar. So is state Education Commissioner Mark McQuillan.

A common calendar “is very important and, arguably, a simple thing to do. . . . We’re not that big a state,” McQuillan said. “I can’t imagine you couldn’t have a post-Labor Day start and the same basic configuration of days off.”

Educators believe a uniform calendar not only would help neighboring towns to coordinate bus schedules, it would also allow them to share the cost of hiring speakers or running training programs for teachers on days scheduled for professional development.

“If you can get common vacation days and common professional development days – that would make a difference,” said Patrice McCarthy, deputy director and general counsel for the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.

However, some districts set vacations and teacher training days in labor contracts while others have well-established traditions they may be reluctant to alter. “Everyone has their own idea as to what the perfect vacation schedule is,” McCarthy said. “You get lots of opinions. People are wedded to what they’ve been doing.”

Nevertheless, she said school boards are expressing a “significantly heightened interest” in working together on matters such as busing, special education, professional training and summer school.

“The time is right,” she said.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert A. Frahm

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Connecticut’s $90M lobbying industry has a new player: former Speaker Joe Aresimowicz
by Mark Pazniokas

Former House Speaker Joe Aresimowicz is becoming a lobbyist, but a revolving-door law limits him for a year.

Spiking tax revenue will wipe out state budget deficit, analysts say
by Keith M. Phaneuf

Projected state revenues skyrocketed by $1.7 billion Friday, positioning officials to balance the next state budget without tax hikes.

Judge approves shorter sentence for convicted murderer turned prison mentor
by Kelan Lyons

The DOC could start screening Clyde Meikle in July for discharge to a halfway house.

Without vocal dissent, Senate confirms Justice Andrew McDonald
by Mark Pazniokas

The state Senate acted quickly Friday to confirm Andrew J. McDonald to a second term on the Supreme Court.

Funding to fix CT’s roads and bridges is drying up, and officials don’t have a solution
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Kasturi Pananjady

Connecticut's transportation building program is on a financial diet after a five-year ramp-up after lawmakers rejected tolls.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Evidence not clear that Trump incited Capitol destruction
by Alan Calandro

Defending President Donald Trump is not popular and I have no interest in writing this other than adherence to truth. Recognizing the truth (if we can find it, which is not always possible of course) should make us be able to come together around that and move on with a common understanding.

Opinion Securing our nuclear legacy: An open letter to President-elect Joe Biden
by Erik Assadourian

Dear President-elect Biden: As you noted in a tweet shortly after protestors stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, “Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile.” Indeed it is. And so are nation-states.

Opinion Last votes of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others
by Gary A. Franks

Finally, the election season is over. The historic elections we saw in this cycle were intriguing. The runoff elections for the U.S. Senate in Georgia put a cap on the campaign season. For many people this could be described as a COVID-19 election. I would argue that this was an election influenced by a pandemic but determined by the killing of unarmed Black people with no adequate justice for the Black community.

Opinion Not just environmental problem; Killingly plant is a great target
by Joel Gordes

In 1990, I was one of five legislators to introduce the first climate change legislation that became PA 90-219, An Act Considering Climate Change, the most popular bill of that session. Back then I considered climate change a national security issue… and I still do.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO