The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Selectmen to seek statute change on private school tuition
WINSTED — Winsted selectmen are sending a letter to the state legislature, hoping to change a general statute governing semi-private school tuition.
The written request asks the state legislature to amend CGS 10-34. The state statutes governing semi-private schools apply to schools and academies that exist in a town that has no high school of its own, including the Gilbert School, which serves grades 7-12 in Winsted. The statutes include 10-164-33, requiring tuition in towns where no (public) high school is maintained; and 10164-34, requiring approval by a state board of an incorporated or endowed high school.
The Board of Selectmen on Monday approved the letter after several months of review from members as
well as town attorney Kevin Nelligan.
Mayor Candy Perez first proposed asking for the statute change in August.
Winsted has been bound by state statute since the late 1940s to pay annual tuition to Gilbert, where more than 90 percent of its operating budget comes from that annual tuition. Perez reasoned that the annual tuition payment has become a burden, and the amount is not always set before the town begins its own budget approval process, which includes Gilbert School tuition. In March 2019, for example, Gilbert brought forth a budget with a $600,000 increase, and negotiations between the town and the school were stalled for several months.
If the statutes were changed, Perez said, the stalling would stop, because the tuition fee would be agreed upon beforehand.
In their letter, the selectmen explained how the change to the statute would streamline the process of budget approval and avoid delays.
“The Town of Winchester does not maintain a public high school. The Gilbert School, a private endowment school, serves as the Town of Winchester’s high school as well as for Grades 7-8,” the letter reads. “The Town of Winchester pays as tuition approximately 94% of the Gilbert School yearly operating budget. The Board of Education of the Town of Winchester and The Gilbert School, in the past, have had difficulty arriving at an agreed tuition. Current state law provides no mechanism when a stalemate exists in attempting to set a tuition. The amendment to C.G.S. 10-34 that the Board of Selectmen is proposing, if adopted by the General Assembly, would require mediation and arbitration, when such a stalemate exists. This proposed amendment, a copy of which is attached, is similar to the law for the process used for negotiating teacher salaries.”
Members approved the letter in its entirety Monday after making some minor wording changes. While the letter is being addressed to state Rep. Jay Case, R-Winsted, and state Sen. Craig Miner, R-Litchfield, Perez said it would be sent after Nov. 3.
“After elections in November, we’ll know who is
elected to the positions of representative and senator,” she said.
If the changes were to be approved by the legislature, the school tuition would be negotiated and set before the town and school budgets are approved, thereby eliminating any unexpected increases levied by the Gilbert School Corp., which serves as Gilbert’s school
board.
“Instead of getting an additional bill out of the blue, we could negotiate tuition before our budget season starts,” Perez said in August during a discussion with other selectmen. “That way, there’s not this tug and pull, back and forth.”
In May, Gilbert School Superintendent Anthony Serio said the tuition increased because contract negotiations between the town and the school “broke down.” According to a 2019 story in the Register Citizen, 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 for the cost of tuition under the terms of the most recent agreement between the two sides. To make up the difference, the Winchester Public Schools drew funding from the Additional Town Support for NonEducational Expenses line item in the town budget, the board’s non-lapsing fund.
In Winsted’s case, the Gilbert School Corp. leases the school building from the Gilbert Trust, and depends on the annual tuition for its students to pay its bills. The Gilbert School also has an international student program, drawing a group of students from China, primarily. During the 2020 budget season, the Gilbert School learned that because of the COVID-19 pandemic, less than half of the usual 30 or more students would not return in 2020-21.
Serio said the selectmen want more control over Gilbert’s budgetary process.