Gilbert School costs, tuition challenged at budget hearing

WINSTED — Thursday night’s budget hearing, held on Zoom, became a debate between town officials and Gilbert School Superintendent Dr. Anthony Serio, who defended the semi-private school’s recent decision to apply for the federal government’s Paycheck to Paycheck Program.

Gilbert applied for and received more than $900,000 from the PPP, which Serio says will be used for payroll, ensuring the school has enough money to operate and pay its faculty and staff in the coming year.

“We’re a nonprofit, and we qualified for the PPP,” Serio said. “We decided it made sense for us to apply for that funding.”

Gilbert’s decision to get the PPP funding angered Mayor Candy Perez, who

questioned why Winsted still had to pay its annual tuition of more than $7 million for the town’s 400-plus students. Because Gilbert is a nonprofit, semi-private school overseen by the Gilbert Trust, Winsted pays tuition for each student attending the school.

About 20 people joined Zoom Thursday to listen and make comments.

The Gilbert School’s proposed $7,810 million budget for 2020-21 is an increase of $198,544 over current spending.

The Winchester Public Schools’ $20,201,987 proposed 2020-21 budget represents a $240,301, or a 1.2 percent, increase over current spending. That budget was presented by Superintendent Melony Brady-Shanley.

The town’s proposed budget for 2020-21 totals $34,228,148, an increase of $402,787 over current spending. Town Manager Robert Geiger made the presentation.

‘Pre-corona budget’

During his presentation, Serio prefaced his comments by saying the 2020-21 school year will be very different, and that the Gilbert School budget was developed “pre-corona.”

“Only a portion of our students will be able to come back,” Serio said. “We’ll have kids at home doing distance learning, and kids coming to class. We’ll practice social distancing inside and outside the classroom. There will be masks, Plexiglas dividers . ... This is what we’re facing with the start of school in the fall.

“Distance learning will continue,” he said. “We’re going to make sure everyone has connectivity, because there may be a period of time when we’ll have to stay home again. This is a pre-corona budget, delivered in January, and there are likely to be many changes to the way things will be done.”

Gilbert had 30 international students living on campus this year, which creates revenue for the school. Serio said many of those students may not return, which will mean less tuition money. He is hoping to have 18 to 20 students in the fall. “We estimated 30 international students, but that’s not going to happen,” Serio said. “Embassies may not be open for them to get here.”

The superintendent said maintenance costs also will increase. “There will be added costs for and dispenser stations, sanitizing centers in rooms, PPE (gloves and masks),” Serio said. “We’re going to have a circumstance on our hands where we’re going to be sanitizing the building throughout the day, and we’ll need more custodial staff, once the school year begins.”

Brady-Shanley said recently that the elementary schools probably will need more supplies and extra help keeping the schools sanitized and safe. Like Serio, she didn’t have specific numbers related to those anticipated costs.

Who pays?

Along with the discussion of the PPP funding and Gilbert’s tuition bill, Perez and Selectwoman Candace Bouchard questioned capital improvements at Gilbert, and who should be responsible.

“Does our contract for education (at the Gilbert School) include capital improvements?” Bouchard asked, when Serio pointed to roof repairs that are needed. “Usually capital improvements are borne by the owner, not the tenant.”

Serio said capital improvements are part of Winsted’s costs. “The roof repairs make the capital costs stand out a little more this year,” he said.

Perez said, “A few years ago, we weren’t paying capital expenses. Winsted is not only taking care of town buildings ... now it’s taking care of your building.”

Serio explained that the Gilbert Trust’s responsibility includes the land around the school building, but that interior repairs and costs were part of the town’s responsibility, because it houses their students.

Perez asked again what Gilbert planned to do with the PPP funding. Serio said it would be used for salaries, while the town’s tuition funds would be set aside and used for supplies, tutors, and other needs as they arise.

Perez objected to the idea of “setting aside” the town’s $7 million tuition money.

“I can understand the need for (money) for COVID-19,” she said. “But if Winchester’s schools had extra money, they’d have to return it to the town. If you have money left, you keep it. You don’t give it back to the town.”

“That’s right,” Serio responded. “We will have a reserve. It will be used for education, for the blended education we’re going to have to follow in the coming year.”

Perez argued that during the 2019-20 budget process, Gilbert raised its tuition bill. “The Winchester school board was anticipating an agreedupon tuition ... when we got a bill, ... we had to shift money around. Can you tell me why?”

Serio said the tuition increased in 2019 because contract negotiations between the town and the school “broke down.”

According to a story in the Register Citizen, in 2019, Gilbert and Winsted had settled on a one-year extension of the contract, with $6,849,000 to be paid from the district to Gilbert. But Gilbert requested to be named the sole designated high school for Winsted students, which was unanimously rejected by the Board of Education, according to the minutes. Gilbert then billed the district $6,943,193 for the coming school year, according to the minutes for the July 22 meeting of the Winchester Board of Education. The board had budgeted $6,475,000, the cost of tuition under the terms of the most recent agreement between the two sides. To make up the $468,193 difference, the Winchester Public Schools drew funding from the Additional Town Support for Non-Educational Expenses line item in the town budget, the board’s non-lapsing fund.

Selectman Jack Bourque reminded Serio that the pandemic was causing “a lot of challenges” for taxpayers, and that if Gilbert had a shortfall — losing international students, for example — he would have to consider significant reductions to the school’s budget, including staffing.

“I’d be very hesitant to do that,” Serio responded. “Kids are going to need more teachers, not less. It’s not the time to think about reductions in staffing.

“That’s why I went after the PPP money,” he said. “With the possibility of a shortfall, that was one of the driving factors.”

Brady-Shanley also is anticipating more costs in the coming year.

The closing of the K-8 St. Anthony School, for example, will bring more students to the public schools. Changes in the way students are taught, cleaning supplies and possible added transportation costs also are concerns, she said.

Hearings continue

Additional budget hearings will be held at 7 p.m. May 18 and 21.

The May 21 meeting is a Special Board of Selectmen meeting to adopt the budget and set the town’s tax rate. All will be livestreamed, shown on Channel 194, and on Zoom. Public comment can be submitted in writing or by phone anytime between now and May 20; email townmanager@townofwinchester.org, LBessette@townofwinchester.org or Winstedpubliccomment@gmail.com, call 860-738-6962, or write to Town of Winsted, Attn: Board Of Selectmen 338 Main St., Winsted CT 06098. All comments will be compiled and considered by the BOS throughout this process prior to our decision on May 21.

To read the budgets online, go to townofwinchester.org.