On Wednesday, June 4, the Watertown Board of Education discussed and decided on additional cuts to be made to the upcoming school budget proposal. The cuts were approved at the BOE's Monday, June 9 meeting.

The Town Council has stipulated $200,000 in cuts be made as a result of a one-half mill, or $800,000 reduction in the budget. This figure is offset by $600,000 in investment earnings from the Swift Project and the $200,000 remainder was split evenly between the Town Council and Board of Education.

As a result, new system wide reductions have been implemented to accommodate imposed requirements. The $50,000 allocation for computer equipment has been completely eliminated, meaning there will be not be any new computers purchased the coming year and leaving no money to alleviate any possible need for computer repair or replacement. In the event of computer breakdowns, older machines will have to be reused.

The only new machines this year will be coming from grants,;a few will be supplied by the Perkins Grant for use in the graphics lab at Watertown High School. However, additional grants, including those from the corporate sector, have yet to be looked into. They are not expected to fund anything beyond a few additional computers. At this point, the technology budget is being hit the hardest, taking the greatest reduction, leaving no money allotted for next year.

The $7,500 for tuition reimbursement has also been eliminated and additional reductions totaling $10,276 have been made to audio and visual equipment funding. This will put limits on plans to purchase ceiling mounted projectors for the John Trumbull School and the purchase of a smart-board, an interactive digital white-board, is no longer possible.

These cuts, along with an additional $10 increase in pay-to-play fees (raising it to a total of $110 per student per year), are intended to offset the $15,000 cost of repairing the John Trumbull Primary School's cafeteria doors. The doors had to be cut along the bottom due to shifting of concrete blocks during seasonal transitions. The doors currently have no underpinning and are seen as a waste of heating expenditures as they fail to insulate during cold weather.

The problem was discovered after suit was filed with Fusco Corporation for other construction faults; therefore repairs costs would not be covered by money gained from the settlement recently made with the contractor. It is also not possible to route money from the Judson School construction projects.

Watertown High School will be sustaining nearly 25 percent of the education budget cuts. While the Board is making staff reductions a last resort, nearly half of the school's cuts will be coming directly from teaching supplies. English and science textbooks have been allotted $5,300 less and purchases of science equipment has been reduced by $5,000. An additional $3,000 is being removed from library book purchases and the yearly refinishing of the gym floor is being suspended to save $4,000 more.

The remaining reductions are to come from gym equipment, alternative education supplies, link crew training and the school to career program, which will have to use fundraisers for most of its money in the future for guest speakers and field trips.

Nearing the end of the meeting, Tom Lambert posed the question, "Is it fair to say that we think we cut out everything besides labor at this point?"

Administrative personnel present indicated that was indeed the case.

The Board of Education reiterated that staff cuts are the absolute last resort, citing the need for the current staff to keep class sizes stable and the need to retain experienced teachers who are able to help incoming students who have greater needs.

The Board of Education stated that academic services would remain their priority in shaping the budget.

Discussions on where to make future cuts, should they become necessary, focused on elimination of sports programs starting at the middle school level. Laying off teachers was seen as a last resort.

However, board members admitted that this possibility would be become increasingly difficult to avoid in the event of future proposal defeats.

Interim Superintendent Phillip Pelosi remarked, "It was very difficult to come up with this list," a sentiment that was was agreed with by the assembled BOE members.