Cutting teachers, outsourcing busses, even shutting down an elementary school are all options on the table if Montville Public Schools sees significantly less than expected state aid.
Board of Education Chair Bob Mitchell said Montville schools could see about $1.5 million in funding cuts based on Gov. Dannel Malloy’s plan.
A worst-case scenario could include cutting about 20 teachers’ jobs, closing an elementary school, moving kindergarten back to half-day and outsourcing the district’s bus system, Mitchell said.
“We’re a casino town and I feel really bad with all the traffic that goes through our town and we have to support the roads and the students of the employees, and now we’re facing budget cuts while our money goes elsewhere,” Amy Funk said. She has a senior at Montville High School and is a paraprofessional in the district.
Chistopher DiNoto has a seventh grader and ninth grader and said he doesn’t want to see class sizes increased.
“It kind of takes away from each person and it kind of throws them all together.”
Mitchell said Superintendent Brian Levesque came up with three budgets. The second best option would be if state aid remained the same as last year, but that means class sized could still grow.
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“I’ve heard some of the class sizes, especially at the high school, from my own daughter. And that makes me sad that they’re that big and sometimes they might have to sit at their teacher’s desk because there’s no room in the classroom for them to sit,” Funk said.
The district is seeing decreasing enrollment and the keeps class sizes to under 25 students, according to Mitchell. The school system’s budget has increased less than six percent in the last decade, he added.
A cut like this is painful for a small town, Mitchell said, when the money is already tight.
The school board meets again Tuesday where they can vote on a budget, or hold off, since the town council does not require a budget until March 15.
