All smiles at school budget hearing

NORTH CANAAN — Who says a budget presentation can’t be fun? Everyone who attended the March 23 North Canaan Elementary School presentation to the Board of Finance got to play with the Promethean ActivExpression. Finance board members and audience members got to use the new technology to answer questions posed by Principal Rosemary Keilty. Their answers — which were given using remote devices that resembled oversized cell telephones — were compiled and appeared on a SMART board.School staff call the devices “clickers” — and call their students “screenagers” because of the amount of time they spend in front of computer screens and digital devices. But the new system is bridging the technology generation gap because of its ease of use and, perhaps, because of the instant gratification it offers.Teachers can program it to do all sorts of lessons, as well as quizzes. That eliminates the many after-school hours teachers spend on grading; and students love knowing immediately how they did, Keilty said.The new technology is just one way the school is moving forward, she explained, by inspiring students with media they can relate to. And the proposed 2011-12 school budget includes a moderate degree of spending to create even more opportunities like this.But even before they got to play with the clickers, finance board members were smiling at a .09 percent decrease in proposed spending for the elementary school, a 2.37 percent decrease in the regional school assessment and an overall spending picture that puts North Canaan at a 1.18 percent overall decrease for town and school spending.Large surplusThe school is also anticipating a $90,000 to $100,000 surplus from the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. Keilty explained the overage is not the result of a lack of careful planning. The surplus is mostly due to insurance premium savings and another year of much lower heating oil consumption, thanks to a new heating system and schoolwide conservation efforts “Last year, when we were presenting the budget, the region was in the process of changing insurance carriers. It turned out the amount was much lower than we had in the draft budget. Every year there is something like that,” she said. “We try not to budget with the idea we’d have to come back to [the Board of Finance] for more money. We try to figure out very closely what things will cost.”With 79 percent of the budget going to contracted services, budget bottom lines are often largely out of the hands of the school administrators.Teachers’ salaries alone make up 48 percent of the total budget. But according to a new contract, the coming year will see a wage freeze. That line item will rise by 0.32 percent because one teacher is receiving a salary increase for earning a degree, and another is returning from an unpaid parenting leave.One of the biggest percentage increases is to staff life insurance, although the 27.75 percent rise amounts to only $2,677. When questioned by a finance member, Keilty said, “I guess we’re all getting older.”Stating that she would never ask someone to do something she wouldn’t do herself, Keilty is requesting a salary freeze. She currently earns $93,560, and received a $1,000 raise in the previous budget.Among the larger decreases is a nearly 40 percent drop in the sewer assessment and a 21.4 percent decrease for water, for a total savings of $3,571. The two go hand in hand; metered water that comes into the school goes out via the sewer. The steam-to-hot-water heat conversion and new kitchen refrigeration account for less water use.