By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT–The school board may have found a way to give district administrators everything it asked for in its 2026-27 operating budget proposal and keep the increase below 5 percent.

Reserve transfer?

Chief Financial Officer Elio Longo told the board on Thursday that if $750,000 was subtracted from a $2.6 million health insurance reserve that is kept should the district return to a self-insured model, the bottom line of the proposed budget could be reduced from a 5.4 percent increase to 4.9 percent.

“The number is the number but … I’d feel more comfortable getting it to five (percent)” without cutting anything, Board Chair Lee Goldstein said.

Normally using a one-time source of funding would lead to a fiscal cliff, causing problems the following year when those funds would have to be made up somehow.

There appears to be a solution for that as well.

For nearly a decade the district has partnered with the town to pay toward $7.57 million in energy efficiencies in its schools. The district has made annual payments with the last year of that commitment, carrying a $810,000 price tag, ending in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

Instead of helping the district toward rising expenses as it builds a 2027-28 operating budget, the suggestion is that the $810,000 fill the hole it would be creating this year.

“It’s an option,” said Longo.

Applying $750,000 in reserve funding to health insurance costs would theoretically knock the projected State Partnership Plan cost increase down from 15 to 12 percent.

Schools Superintendent Thomas Scarice said he was in favor of the option.

Board Member Stephen Shackleford said he was more inclined to stick with the 5.4 percent increase and save the $810,000 savings coming in 2027 for that budget.

Goldstein said it would be nice to have $810,000 to start the next budget cycle but that she really wanted to get the increase to below 5 percent.

“It’s a reasonable request,” Goldstein said.

Were it not for the insurance, the superintendent’s proposed budget increase would be in the 3 percent range.

“The number is not that bad if you take insurance out,” said Board Vice Chair Dorie Hordon.

Longo told the board that even with a $750,000 withdrawal, the district’s insurance reserve would be sufficient for a future switch to a self-insured model.

Board Secretary Neil Phillips, who said he will be absent when the board votes on its budget proposal on February 5, said he supported the proposal to save programming and use the reserves to get the overall increase down.

Teaming 

Earlier in the meeting, the board heard presentations about why the district needs to retain its middle school teaming model even though it can be more expensive.

Assistant Superintendent Anna Mahon, along with Bedford Principal Adam Rosen and Coleytown Middle Principal Janna Sirowich explained teaming: grouping students so that they share the same four full-time academic teachers; this helps students feel more connected and allows common planning time for the teachers who share those students.

Hordon called the teaming model one of the best things about the district.

Most of the board agreed. Only Board Member Jill Dillon suggested the team model can be tough on students unable to escape peers with whom they don’t get along.

Uniforms

The board also heard from Staples Athletic Director VJ Sarullo on the district plan to begin buying athletic uniforms. Presently, booster clubs shoulder much of that burden. Sarullo said with more sports being offered and costs rising, it is not a sustainable model.

“We think it is the right thing to do. We should cover all essentials,” Sarullo told the board.

Coaches will be consulted, but the uniforms supplied by the district will be the official uniforms and cannot be swapped out by booster clubs.

Sarullo deemed the $95,000 annual price tag sufficient for his plan to establish a four-year replacement cycle for some 78 teams and a roster this year of 1,629 spots.

Board Member Stephen Shackelford, who had sought assurances that coaches had been consulted, seemed satisfied with Sarullo’s responses.

“I think you answered the main questions,” Shackelford said.

Linda Conner Lambeck

^{_{Linda Conner Lambeck covers education for Westport Journal. She was a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications. She has covered education throughout Fairfield and New Haven counties. She is a proud member of the Education Writers Association.}}