Moynihan wants more town-side control of schools
NEW CANAAN - First Selectman Kevin Moynihan wants to move the boundaries traditionally adhered to by both the Board of Education and the town, citing his belief that it would reap fiscal benefits for New Canaan.
In the past, the school administration has worked as a separate entity from the town, solely responsible for maintenance of schools, health insurance and purchasing.
Moynihan warned Superintendent Bryan Luizzi Board at a Selectman meeting Tuesday, Jan. 22 that the Board of Finance is going to wish to merge certain school district efforts with the town, including health care financing and maintenance when a $96 million school budget comes to it.
“We certainly welcome the discussion with the Board of Finance and continue to work together,” Luizzi said. He did, however, give reasons for why he did not think it was a good idea.
In the past, Town Council and Board of Finance members have suggested the town save money by merging efforts such as having a central purchasing unit and the school administration has rejected such proposals, citing their independence under state statute.
The Board of Selectmen have sway over capital school budget, but not the operating budget. The Board of Finance may decide how much to give the Board of Education for its total budget, but not oversee line items, consistent with the state education statute.
At the end of the process, the Town Council has the authority to cut, but not add, anything in the budget.
State statute CGS § 10222 favors the school board. The town can “make spending recommendations and suggestions to such Board of Education as to how such Board of Education may consolidate noneducational services and realize financial efficiencies,” it says.
However, the Board of Education has the ability to accept or reject suggestions made by the Board of Finance or Board of Selectmen. If they choose to do so, they must cite a clear explanation as to why they chose to reject the suggestion.
First, Moynihan expects the finance board to change the internal services fund to town side. The Board of Education, as it is now, is 60 percent town, 40 percent school.
The internal services fund allows the town to insure itself instead of having a premium-based health insurance, and has been proven to be a money saver. To reduce risk, the town has stop-loss insurance, essentially protecting itself against larger claims.
In the past, the Board of Finance has raised concerns when the school board includes one years savings in this fund into the operating budget, as subsequent years may see those expenses may rise again.
“The issue really is health. And health is health and really should not be viewed on the town’s operating budget. We both self insure. We both try to manage the cost of health (and) the cost of employees as best we can,” Moynihan said.
Though the town boards may not have the authority to change line items, they wield the power to cut the school budget bottom line.
The Board of Education was disappointed in April 2020 when Town Council lopped off $1.1 million from the 2020-21 budget, indirectly removing money the board had expected to use for later start times.
Recently, Town Councilman Rich Townsend shared his logic on why the council cuts the district budget, saying: “We should be getting savings across departments, so let’s cut this a little bit.”
Moynihan wants to have the Selectmen's Advisory
Committee on Buildings and Infrastructure oversee decisions regarding the school construction projects, in particular the replacement of the New Canaan High School roof, estimated at $7 million in the district’s capital budget.
Moynihan questioned the practicality of the schools being in charge of some capital projects.
“The major capital projects really require a lot of oversight and expertise and I think over time it might be more beneficial since the town has more expertise because we do roofs, we do boilers and we do all the capital projects on the town side. And trying to duplicate those talents on both sides probably is not the most efficient way to approach this,” the first selectman said.
“To me, capital projects should have more oversight or perhaps actual implementation by the town side, engineers internally or hired from the outside that would work with the body (school district) to understand the requirements and to understand the scheduling,” Moynihan said.
“But to have more town side control, I think that is what you are probably going to hear from the Board of Finance in February,” Moynihan said.
Legally, the school administration does not have to turn this responsibility over to the town. The money allotted by any municipality for the maintenance of public schools is at the disrection of a Board of Education, however expenditures by the board may not exceed the appropriation set by the municipality.
“As stewards of the building, we certainly take that responsibility very seriously and understand the work that we do on roof replacement, for instance, is mission critical,” Luizzi said.
Luizzi appeared to question the ability of town oversight to get the roof done in a timely fashion.
“We have all known school districts that have not been able to open after a holiday break or after the summer because the roof isn’t ready or isn’t done. A month can evaporate in the school year if these projects aren’t done at certain times and don’t hit certain benchmarks or deadlines. We take them very seriously,” Luizzi said.
“We might be able to get around certain things but things like a roof or some other essential capital items, the responsibility for getting those schools open and running and on time lands squarely on me and the administration and the Board of Ed,” Luizzi said.
The superintendent added, though, that he is willing to continue discourse to negotiate an outcome that makes sense for all parties involved.
Selectman Kathleen Corbet offered the advice of the town’s public works department to the district.
“If Tiger can lend some expertise on the schools, we will take it,” the district CFO Jo-Ann Keating said, referring to DPW Director Tiger Mann. “We have our areas where we take care of things, but we certainly collaborate when we can.”