Towns request school district transparency, spending freeze

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Vermont Standard


3/12/20

Standard Staff

Killington officials are calling for an immediate freeze on “all unnecessary spending” within the Windsor Central Modified Unified Union School District, which is facing a FY19 carryover budget deficit of $200,000 to $700,000, according to a financial audit.

“In addition, knowing there is only a two-year window for replenishing the fund balance, assuming the school district budget will develop the means for correction, the school district should utilize the approved spending amount and create a new line item budget for FY21 with the goal of saving the first $300,000 deficit in the first year,” Killington Town Manager Chester Hagenbarth said, reading from a letter to the Windsor Central Supervisory Union (WCSU) School Board on March 9.

Hagenbarth said Killington officials believe the deficit reduction can “easily be accomplished by eliminating all unnecessary programs and spending along with corrections to existing programs.”

Potential reductions would include eliminating teacher coaches, “as Vermont licensed teachers should not need to be retained [as coaches].” Additional reductions could include “school to work programs and ensuring that all WCSU teachers are teaching their contractually allowed five individual classes with reasonable class sizes,” he said.

Killington officials also suggested reducing the “enormous losses in the food service group, along with any other non-necessities in the school,” Hagenbarth said.

“We are not commenting on the quality of the programs, but given the financial condition of the district and the lack of capital funding, the school district needs to consider only required functions and programs and build a groundup budget that provides for required education, facilities maintenance and capital improvements to en-suite the long-term success of the district,” he said.

Carin Park, chair of Barnard Academy’s School Board, also called for greater transparency and accountability by WSCU officials.

She said in Barnard, the $21 million FY21 budget passed, “but narrowly,” and that the 1,677-1,216 vote reflected a “lack of confidence in the financial management of Unified District funds and frustration with the opacity of the budget development process.

“But generously, it also reflects a tentative trust in board representatives to spearhead the work towards change,” Park continued.

Hagenbarth, reading from a prepared statement, said Killington defeated the proposed budget 239-112, because voters “did not have enough information to make an informed decision.”

He said information provided at town meeting stated that audits for 2018 and 2019 were incomplete. Voters also balked at passage of the proposal since budget fund balances were unknown.

Another reason the budget proposal failed was that it represented an 8.5 percent increase in the tax rate for Killington, he said.

Voters in all seven towns which comprise the supervisory union have approved the merger with Barnard.

“Collectively, Barnard voters have supported a full merge with the Unified District, but it comes with the expectation that the board will provide heightened oversight of central office management of our tax dollars and increased transparency of the budget process,” Park said.

On March 4, the WSCU School Board finance subcommittee heard a status report by an independent auditor of the district‘s finances for fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020.

The “takeaway” from the meeting was that the FY19 carryover fund deficit, in the range of $200,000 to $700,000, is “a problem but it is an absolutely fixable problem,” board member Jennifer Iannantuoni said.

“There were things missed by the finance department and we will fix them. We have 15 months to fix them. I have a lot of confidence in the auditor,” Iannantuoni said.

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