By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — The Board of Education cut three high-profile proposed jobs and two school buses from Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice’s 2025-26 budget proposal Thursday.

Even so, the budget recommended to town funding bodies rose, thanks to increasing insurance costs and the anticipated loss of some state special education revenue.

The board, at a meeting postponed a week because of last week’s snow, voted 6-1 in favor of a $150,371,920 proposal for the fiscal year that starts July 1. That is $14,509 more than the budget Scarice presented to the board in January. The proposal will next be reviewed by the Board of Finance and then faces final action by the Representative Town Meeting.

The proposal represents a $6,750,305 — or 4.70  percent — increase over the current school budget.

Board member Robert Harrington voted no on the overall bottom line. He signaled last month he would not vote in favor of a budget that did not include two assistant principal positions proposed for the town’s elementary schools.

Assistant elementary principal jobs cut

As principals and assistant principals watched from the audience only Harrington and board member Jill Dillon voted to keep the assistant positions which, with benefits, would have cost $405,888.

The idea was to give the district’s five elementary schools two assistant principals each. Currently, only Long Lots has two full-time assistant principals. The other four have one and a half each.

Dillon called the cost to add the positions “scary,” but supported the request in hopes it would lessen the workload for principals.

“I do think it is right for the schools,” Dillon said.

Harrington said although he views district elementary schools as great, he senses something is not quite gelling and that the principals made a convincing argument that adding the two administrative positions would have a positive impact.

“I wholeheartedly am in support of them trying to do this,” Harrington said.

Board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon, however, said she is not sure adding two full-time APs would have a significant impact and she worries about the cost.

“I am just not there yet,” added board member Kevin Christie.

Board Secretary Neil Phillips pressed the administration to consider other less costly ways to alleviate the work crunch.

Board Chair Lee Goldstein suggested using teacher leaders instead of administrators.

Scarice told the board his staff has already explored other options and, other than what is proposed, has not come up with anything other than a total administrative reorganization to smooth out the gaps in the existing system.

“Teacher leaders have value,” Scarice said. “That is not something I would recommend right now.”

The superintendent floated the idea of adding one AP instead of two. It did not gain support.

Facilities coordinator dropped again

Regarding a proposed facilities project coordinator, which came with a $132,867 price tag, the vote to cut it was 4-3. Board members Harrington, Dillon and Abby Tolan voted against eliminating the job from the budget.

The plan was to offer support to the district’s facilities director.

Although the facilities proposal has surfaced in three budget cycles, several board members said they still struggle with what the new position would do as opposed to Colliers, an engineering firm the district uses as a consultant as its capital project list grows.

“I agree [the facilities] department needs more people,” said Goldstein. “I just think we need to get our arms more around who does what. I won’t support it tonight.”

Hordon said there is a tension around the position she doesn’t understand and which needs to be figured out before she can support it.

Scarice said the aim is to get ahead of the school district’s capital projects as they increase and that if it were approved, there would be a fair process to fill the position.

Two school buses off the road

Beyond eliminating the three proposed jobs the board voted unanimously to deduct $231,351, representing two school buses.

The school board received a report last month from a division of First Student, the district’s transportation contractor, that suggested it could cut up to four buses from its fleet of 37 full-size buses by tightening routes and eliminating service to students who never ride the bus.

For now, Scarice said he is comfortable starting with the elimination of two buses. “Being successful in this first year is critical,” he said. He said he doesn’t want to jeopardize the high level of service the district is enjoying this year.

Harrington called the reduction a start, and a signal to town funding bodies the school district is making good on its efforts to trim costs where it can.

Health insurance going up … and up?

Counteracting the savings, the board voted unanimously to add $547,592 to the budget based on the lesser of two revised estimates it has received for the State Partnership Plan health insurance costs for next year. A second estimate would add $953,216 to the budget.

A final estimate is due before the Board of Finance acts on the education budget request.

The board also voted 7-0 to expect $207,023 less from the state in special education reimbursement costs and add $30,000 to the budget to cover the cost of a school sound system.

Left untouched in Scarice’s proposal were the additions of a part-time elementary health teacher, a full-time technology assistant and two permanent building substitutes.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.