Staffing and training to better serve special needs student are the engine driving the proposed 5.72% school spending increase, but a baggage train of contractual obligations make up the bulk of the nearly $5-million increase.
“I do think that fundamentally this is about a commitment to all students, and that by addressing some of our needs related to services in special education, we further enhance the learning opportunities for all children in classrooms, and demonstrate a commitment to strengthening a respectful and inclusive school environment in the Ridgefield Public Schools,” Superintendent Karen Baldwin said. “So I really do think this budget is an ‘all means all’ budget.”
The Board of Education and Dr. Baldwin are seeking $90.9 million for 2016-17, up from $86.1 million this year. If approved, the increase would be close to $5 million.
The contractual obligations make up more of the increase than the special education initiative.
The schools and the teachers agreed to a contract settlement, calling for salary increases of 3.69% for 2016-17, as part of a contract raising pay 9.75% over three years.
Next year’s contracted salary increase for “certified staff” such as teachers and administrators reflects that 3.69%. But the school budget for next year also includes contracted salary increases for other employee groups, as well as increasing benefits costs.
“We reached a settlement that said a general wage increase and step increase would amount to a 3.69% increase. But for our overall budget increase, 4.27% is contractual — it’s certified staff, it’s non-certified staff, it’s employee benefits,” Baldwin said.
“So, 4.27% of the 5.72% are contractual obligations.” she said.
“That means the 1.47% that remains is tied up in things like transportation, utilities, professional learning, purchased services, and proposed new staff.”
The “professional learning” is training for teachers and administrators. Baldwin’s budget outlines a $217,000 program of “job embedded professional learning” including training for 200 elementary school teachers, 120 middle school teachers and 160 high school teachers.
“We have real needs in professional learning for teachers,” Baldwin said.
Teachers today must be able not just to teach and test content — the traditional “subjects” like social studies, or geometry — but also help students “develop these critical skills of research and analysis and problem solving and critical thinking,” Baldwin said, “and communication skills, and being able to apply technology tools appropriately and safely and ethically to help achieve some of those goals.
“And so teachers need support in meeting those standards, on top of the support they need to meet the needs of all learners in core content areas.”
Most of the new staff sought in the budget is special education related.
The budget calls for adding five special education paraprofessionals, at a cost of $105,000.
There are also new “certified staff” additions that are “primarily” for special education, Baldwin said — a variety of partial positions that add up to 4.0 full-time staff, including speech and language pathologists (1.7 positions, $122,230); occupational therapist (0.5 position, $35,950); a close to full-time special education teacher to be shared between Farmingville Elementary School and the community-based program for 18- to 21-year-olds (0.8 position, $57,520); and a full-time combined “technology integrator” and “assistive technology specialist” (1.0 position, $71,900) to help children with disabilities by finding and teaching them to use technological solutions “whether it’s ‘text to talk’ technology or other technological tools,” Baldwin said, that will help special needs students learn in classrooms with other kids and “help children be fully included.”
The “special needs population” is a little more than 10% of the of the district’s 5,056 students, Baldwin said, but the schools also have to accommodate students with a variety of problems under “Section 504” of the federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
“We have an increasing number of children identified under Section 504,” Baldwin said.
This would include “mood disorders, like anxiety and depression” as well as students with “chronic health issues” and kids with “distractibility and hyperactivity disorders.”
There are also students who have moved from other countries, and are learning English.
“When we take our children with disabilities, and children who are receiving services under 504, and our English language learners, that’s 19%,” Baldwin said.
“That means nearly one in five children has some kind of a specialized learning plan. That’s a challenging environment for classrooms teachers to function in. They need support,” Baldwin said.
“That’s what this budget does. It’s helping to build the infrastructure to support teaching and learning in every single classroom across the district.” Baldwin said.
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