Norwalk Board of Education Budget Issues

1
Norwalk Board of Education Budget Issues

• Norwalk Common Council
• April 17, 2007

2
Introduction
This presentation takes information provided by
the Board of Estimate and Taxation and Norwalk
Finance Department, and sourced from the State
Board of Education and State Office of Policy and
Management, to put school spending in Norwalk,
and taxes in Norwalk, in context with spending,
taxes and school performance in other
communities. This is to help put in perspective
the position of the bipartisan Common Council
majority on the cap on spending set in February,
2007.
3
Questions Presented

• Are we underfunding our Schools?
• Does Norwalk place education at the
• forefront, or do we undertax ourselves and
• thereby starve our schools?
• Are our schools performing adequately
• given the funding they already receive?
• Are there opportunities for budget savings
• other than through cutting sports and laying off
• teachers?

4
1. Are we underfunding our Schools?
Norwalk spends 1,704 per pupil more (in direct
spending) than the State average. The proposed
5.2 million increase in this years budget will
raise our direct per pupil spending to 12,939
per year. Norwalk spends more per pupil than 8
of the 9 cities in our socioeconomically-comparabl
e group established by the State Board of
Education (DRG H). Norwalk spends 1,454 per
pupil more than the State average on salaries and
benefits for school employees.
5
Per Pupil Spending Norwalk vs. State
6
Special Ed Per Pupil Spending Norwalk vs.
Danbury
7
Are we underfunding our Schools (contin.)?
Average teacher salaries in Norwalk (74,095) are
the 3rd highest in the State (after 1
Easton/Redding and 2 Greenwich) our average
teacher pay is 12,163 higher than the State
average. Average administrator salaries in
Norwalk (116,163) are the 9th highest in the
State our average administrator pay is 14,728
higher than the State average. Norwalk, however,
only ranks 54th in the State in per capita
income.
8
Average Teacher Salaries in our DRG
9
Average Administrator Salaries in our DRG
10
Average Class Sizes in our DRG only
Norwichs Classes are Smaller
11
Are we underfunding our Schools (contin.)?
Conclusion? Even with only the 5.2 million
increase in the school budget we are proposing
this year, Norwalks schools will still be at the
very top of the State in total spending, teacher
and administrator salaries, and employee
benefits.
12
2. Does Norwalk place education at the
forefront, or do we undertax ourselves and
thereby starve our schools?
Per capita school spending in Norwalk as a
percentage of per capita income is higher than
Stamfords (5.0 Norwalk, 4.44 in Stamford), so
the direct tax impact of our schools on our
taxpayers is already high and growing. Parents
often say Id gladly pay higher taxes if kids
are getting better schooling because of it. In
Norwalk, were certainly paying the higher taxes
we pay the highest taxes in the area (our
equalized tax rate of 12.72 is 21 higher than
Stamfords (10.50), and is also much higher than
the tax rates in the surrounding towns (Wilton
(12.16), Westport (9.21), New Canaan (8.88), and
Darien (8.35)). We tax our citizens at a rate 52
higher than Dariens citizens. Those high taxes
are largely driven by school spending (up 50 in
the last 10 years, while all other City spending
is only up 22).
13
Tax Rates Norwalk vs. Stamford and our
Bordering Towns
14
Does Norwalk place education at the forefront,
or do we undertax ourselves and thereby starve
our schools (Contin.)?
One parent wrote that Norwalk should be more like
our neighboring towns where education is put in
the forefront. A good measure of whether a
City has made a strong commitment to a program
(i.e., has put it in the forefront) is how much
the City taxes itself to spend on that program
(the tax effort). So how does middle-income
Norwalk stack up against our wealthy neighboring
towns in tax effort? The answer is quite
surprising.
15
Does Norwalk place education at the forefront,
or do we undertax ourselves and thereby starve
our schools (Contin.)?
Norwalk is right in the middle and actually
spends more than Darien and Wilton!
16
Per Pupil Spending Norwalk vs. our Bordering
Towns
17
Does Norwalk place education at the forefront,
or do we undertax ourselves and thereby starve
our schools (Contin.)?
But dont forget. A citys effort isnt just
measured by how much it spends. You also have to
factor in the wealth of the city. If a wealthy
town and a lower-income city spend the same
amount on a program (like its schools), the
effort the commitment is greater in the city,
because it is spending a higher percentage of its
wealth. Lets see how Norwalk stacks up in
comparative effort with our neighbors
18
Median Family Income Norwalk vs. our Bordering
Towns
19
Does Norwalk place education at the forefront,
or do we undertax ourselves and thereby starve
our schools (Contin.)?
So our neighbors average over twice our median
family income, yet we spend more than two of the
four on our schools and arent far behind the
other two. Dividing average spending per pupil
by median family income gives you the effort
made by the towns to support their schools the
percentage of their median income
Westport -- 14,119 / 119,872 12 New Canaan
-- 13,417 / 141,788 9 Norwalk -- 12,453 /
59,839 21 Darien -- 12,017 / 146,755
8 Wilton -- 11,890 / 141,428 8
20
By a 2 to 1 to 3 to 1 margin, Norwalk makes a
stronger commitment to our schools that our
wealthy neighbors
21
3. Are our schools performing adequately, given
the funding they already receive?
Weve established that Norwalk taxes itself the
highest in the area, to fund its school system
better than all comparable DRG cities and even
better than some of our much wealthier neighbors.
Weve established Norwalks leadership of
practically the entire State in salaries for
school employees. Weve established the far
higher degree of commitment to its schools
Norwalk shows compared to its neighboring
communities. Are we getting our moneys
worth? Its a fair question for City officials
to ask, when we have to provide adequate
financing not just for our schools but also for
our Police, Fire, DPW and other departments. When
we need to fix some terrible problems with
flooding of peoples homes, and address other
important matters. And when we need to do it
without breaking our already overburdened,
middle-income taxpayers backs.
22
Are our schools performing adequately, given the
funding they already receive (Contin.)?
The State ranks the communities within each DRG
by "SES" (socioeconomic status).  The ranking
goes from 'highest' (the community with the
'best' socioeconomic status) to 'lowest'.  Of the
9 cities in our DRG, the State ranks Norwalk 1
-- meaning that we're better off than the other 8
in a weighted combination of the 7 factors used
by the State in the evaluations.  For instance,
the percentage of working Norwalkers who are
"professionals" by occupation is 39.9 (the
highest in the DRG) by contrast, in Stamford its
36.6, in East Hartford, 24.  In a "negative"
rating, Norwalk has the lowest poverty percentage
(23.1), vs. Stamford at 42.7, Meriden at
54.   So.  Norwalk is the least impacted in the
DRG by the socioeconomic factors usually
considered critical 'external' impacts on poor
student performance (e.g., poverty, single-parent
families, etc.).  All other things being equal,
one would expect our students, therefore, to
perform at or near the top in standardized
academic tests.   But there's more.  As already
shown, Norwalk also pays the highest teacher
salaries of any city in the DRG, 15.5 above the
DRG average.  Norwalk also pays the highest
administrator salaries of any city in the DRG,
12.9 above the DRG average.   So --- we have the
best socioeconomic conditions of any of the 9
cities, and we pay our teachers and
administrators the best of any of the 9 cities. 
Do we get the best student academic results of
the 9 cities? Unfortunately, no.
23
SAT Math Scores Norwalk is 5th of the 9 DRG
Cities
24
SAT Verbal Scores Norwalk is 7th of the 9 DRG
Cities
25
Grade 8 Reading CMT Scores Norwalk is 5th of
the 9 DRG Cities
26
Grade 8 Writing CMT Scores Norwalk is 3rd of
the 9 DRG Cities
27
Grade 8 Math CMT Scores Norwalk is 6th of the 9
DRG Cities
28
Are our schools performing adequately, given the
funding they already receive (Contin.)?
Conclusion -- Norwalk's schools significantly
underperform many other DRG school systems
dealing with much more socioeconomically-challenge
d populations, even though Norwalk spends
considerably more than those systems on a per
pupil basis and pays much higher teacher and
administrator salaries. The progress our schools
have made in recent years, unfortunately, pales
in comparison to the performance of poorer school
systems and points to systematic problems with
the management of our schools. Our taxpayers
deserve a much better bang for their bucks.
29
4. Are there opportunities for BoE budget
savings other than through cutting sports and
laying off teachers?
Board of Estimate member Mike Lyons and Finance
Director Tom Hamilton have prepared an analysis
of potential savings in the Board of Education
budget that can be made without hitting any
personnel line items -- no layoffs at all. 
Hamilton estimated his savings by giving the BoE
a 3 increase from last year in these line items
(rather than the much larger percentage increases
in the BoE budget request) Lyons adjusted some
by using the '03/'04 BoE budget numbers plus
inflation since then.  The range of potential
savings is from a low of 1.6 million (Hamiltons
number without transportation) to a high of 2.4
million (Lyons number and including
transportation).  Mr. Hamilton noted that
This does not touch full time staffing at all. 
In addition, I would note that there is still
more than 400,000 in these numbers for
equipment, and I presume that this spending is
largely discretionary and could be cut back
further if need be. This would increase the
range of non-personnel savings to 2.0 million to
2.8 million.
30
(No Transcript)
31
Are there opportunities for BoE budget savings
other than through cutting sports and laying off
teachers? (Contin.)?
Conclusion Clearly there are substantial areas
of potential savings in the school budget, based
on increasing funding in non-personnel accounts
only at the rate of inflation, which can be made
without layoffs of personnel or cuts in sports
programs. That is where the BoE needs to
concentrate its attention when reconciling its
budget. It is time for the BoE to make
efficiency and cost control an integral part of
everything it does in running the schools, as all
other City departments have learned to do. Our
taxpayers have the right to expect that.
32
Sources
Norwalk Department of Finance Norwalk Board of
Estimate and Taxation Norwalk Board of
Education Connecticut State Board of
Education Connecticut Office of Policy and
Management Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics