East Haven budget workshop: district would restore two elementary literacy coaches; insurance and transport lines explained
Summary
At a budget workshop, district leaders said a proposed 2.0 FTE increase would restore one literacy coach to each elementary school, explained a five-year averaging method for medical insurance projections, and clarified a prior misclassification that shifted magnet transportation costs to regular transportation. The board will reconvene next week to vote on the budget.
Speaker 1 opened the East Haven School District budget workshop and described proposed changes to staffing and budget assumptions ahead of a scheduled vote next week. "That 2 FTE just speaks to there being one literacy coach in each of our five elementaries," Speaker 1 said, adding the district currently staffs three literacy coaches and the proposal would reinstate the two positions cut in the previous proposed budget.
The reinstatement of 2.0 full-time-equivalent literacy coaching positions was presented as part of a broader instruction and implementation plan tied to new ELA programming. Speaker 1 said the additional coaches would provide infrastructure and support for instructional changes tied to adoption of a new core ELA program.
Board members pressed staff on budget details. Speaker 2 raised concerns about medical insurance estimates, noting the district’s current-year spending differed from earlier projections. Speaker 3 described the district’s approach: "We use a five-year total average," Speaker 3 said, explaining the vendor’s one-year projection is combined with four years of actual claims to produce a more stable forecast for next year.
Procurement and classification items also came up. Speaker 4 asked whether the district should seek alternative suppliers or check for administrative fees for cleaning supplies; Speaker 3 said supplies are housed centrally and staff would contact local vendors to compare pricing. On enrollment and transportation, Speaker 2 questioned a large decrease in students listed for a magnet program. Speaker 3 said that in past years one school was "classified internally as a magnet when it should not have been," and that reclassification moves costs from the magnet transportation line to regular transportation rather than producing an overall net savings.
Speaker 4 raised pay and staffing for middle-school athletics, urging that middle-school coaches be paid more in line with high school coaches and noting that some middle-school teams do not have paid assistant coaches. "I would like to see coaches in the middle schools paid more in line as what the high school coaches get," Speaker 4 said. Speaker 1 acknowledged the importance of athletics for student belonging and said the matter could be explored in future budget discussions.
The workshop concluded with thanks to staff for the presentation and a reminder that the board is scheduled to reconvene next week to consider and vote on the proposed budget.
