'We Believe in the Budget and We're Going to Pass it'

First Selectman Steve Vavrek heard a lot of advice on how to revise the $80.3 million budget proposal in response to Tuesday's referendum defeat. Some attending Thursday's meeting at town hall suggested eliminating three new school resource officers and others asked him to delay projects dealing with town infrastructure.

Those who believe the 4.1% increase to the mill rate, which is used to calculate individual tax bills, is what sunk the budget, recommended cuts from $500,000 to $1 million to get it down to 3%.

"I heard a lot of comments tonight," Vavrek said at the end of the meeting. "Some shows me we need a little more educating on the process. This budget is the right budget for the town."

The first selectman noted that the official count showed the budget was defeated by 140 votes — which is not a significant margin in his opinion.

"Can we cut a lot of money out of this budget? Yes, but we won't move Monroe forward," he said. "If you don't agree with that, we'll see what happens in November. I ask you to support this budget and get your neighbors out."

Of suggestions that the town put off doing projects, Vavrek said, "We're not going to kick the can anymore. We believe in the budget and we're going to pass it."

'A True and Honest Assessment'

When he interviewed for his position, Supt. of Schools James Agostine said Board of Education members had asked him his views on budgets.

"I'm not a superintendent who will put an inflated budget out until I get the budget I need," Agostine said, adding he believed his initial budget request was "a true and honest assessment of our needs."

At the same time, Agostine said he realizes people are hurting in a bad economy and pointed out areas of savings the district found since the original request — including a reduction to the medical insurance fund.

The only places in the Board of Education budget where significant cuts can be made are to personnel and programs, according to Agostine, who said keeping full-day kindergarten in the budget is "critical for Monroe."

The district has spent tens of thousands of dollars on training and thousands of dollars on curriculum since 2010 to comply with Common Core State Standards mandated by No Child Left Behind, according to Agostine.

But no matter what educators do, if Monroe's kindergartners are not up to speed when they enter first grade, Agostine said they will be way behind.

Though he said the community has to start thinking of program improvements like foreign languages in the sixth grade, Agostine said the district also must continue to pay attention to its decreasing student enrollment and reduce staff accordingly, which he said has been happening over the past three years.

Agostine asked residents to consider that the school board received no increases over the past two years and factor in increased costs from inflation.

Ernest LaFollette, chairman of the Monroe Citizens Audit Committee, disputed that claim, saying the Board of Education used $531,000 in enterprise funds in the current budget — representing an increase — and that the funding is included in the new request.

No 'Fluff'

Board of Education member Jeff Guttman thanked the first selectman and superintendent for the budgets they put together.

"We're not cutting out fluff," Guttman said of the effects of multiple referendum defeats. "We're cutting out muscle. We're all here for the best of Monroe, so let's move forward by passing this next budget."

Dr. Alan Vaglivelo, another school board member, expressed his belief that there is a lot of misinformation in town about full day kindergarten. He said it will prepare children to meet the core standards by learning things like basic algebraic thinking, basic geometry and critical reading skills.

"Kindergarten is not about playing in the sandbox anymore," Vaglivelo said. "It's about learning."

He also spoke against cutting any teachers to maintain class sizes, especially because he said 10% of Monroe students are special education students in need of one-on-one attention.

Board of Education Chairman Darrell Trump thanked Monroe voters for approving the bonding for Honeywell on Tuesday, and said he stands by the education budget the way it is, adding any additional cuts will hurt programs.

'Leave the School Budget Alone'

Angela Cross, a parent, said she believes school resource officers can prevent shooting incidents at schools, because a shooter could avoid a school if he knows an officer is there.

The town budget request currently includes three school resource officers in response to demand after the horrific shooting at Sandy Hook School last December.

Many residents have been calling for the SROs to be cut from the budget.

Lauren Moreno, a parent, reminded some town officials of how they spoke in favor of the budget proposal and asked them to stand by their words.

"Please stand by your budget if you think it's best for the community," Moreno said.

Steve Schapiro said the Board of Education's original requested increase was $1.6 million, adding it has since been cut in half, while the municipal request has only had a small decrease.

"It tells me to leave the school budget alone," he said. "And that's coming from a senior citizen with no kids in the school."