Congratulations go out to our Teacher of the Year, Kelly Ascone, Trumbull High School Math Teacher. Further congratulations go out to our Paraeducator of the Year, Keysha Evans, from Tashua Elementary School. Our Press Release includes a great deal of additional information about our school level Teachers of the Year and more information about both Ms. Ascone and Ms. Evans.
I have received some questions about the status of our Master Facilities Plan and the update below attempts to capture the more important milestones. The Trumbull Public Schools worked with the Town of Trumbull to fund a facilities Master Plan. The plan identified the schools with the most need for both physical and programmatic improvements and laid out a potential timeline for when this work could be accomplished. The BOE unanimously adopted the plan after many public meetings and identified Hillcrest Middle School as the highest priority.
In the Spring 2024 Legislative Session, we learned that Trumbull’s typical reimbursement rate for building projects would be increased from 24.29% to 44%, specifically for the Hillcrest School project. This represents a potential significant cost savings for Trumbull taxpayers. I appreciate the efforts of First Selectman Tesoro working closely with the school team and our State Representatives to help make this increased reimbursement rate a reality.
We have been working with the Town Council, Board of Finance, and First Selectman so that a referendum question regarding the Hillcrest School Project can be placed on the November 2024 ballot. We appreciate the efforts of Town Council Chair, Carl Massaro, to bring forward Town Council resolutions needed to create a Hillcrest Building Committee and to allow the Trumbull Schools to complete and submit an application for the new building to the State by June 30, 2024.
It is important to note that the Hillcrest Building Project will only move forward if approved by the voters in November.
We were thrilled to learn that our HVAC grant for Middlebrook School was approved by the State of Connecticut. The plan is to start selective demolition and possibly start ductwork over the summer. The equipment will have long lead times; therefore, much infrastructure work will be done while waiting for equipment to be delivered. The project must be completed by December 31, 2025, per our authorizing legislation. This represents the first phase of updating the HVAC in that building. The three-story classroom wing will receive most of the work. A new dedicated outdoor air system will increase the ventilation rate by bringing tempered fresh air to the classrooms. The classroom temperatures will be controlled through VRF (Variable Refrigerant Flow) units to provide heating and cooling. The whole system will be coordinated by a building management system.
It is important to note that we worked closely with the Town when we submitted this grant application. This project needed to be included in the Town’s Capital Plan given that local taxpayers pay about two-thirds of the cost. We did not submit additional grant applications for HVAC in other locations because the total cost would have been well beyond our normal Capital Plan allocation. We will continue to pursue HVAC improvements in our work moving forward.
The budget process for the 2024-2025 school year was completed on May 21, 2024, when the BOE unanimously adopted a balanced budget. You can find a complete list of our cuts in the minutes
for our May 21, 2024, BOE meeting. The BOE originally adopted a 5.32% budget increase for the 2024-2025 school year but worked with the elected officials and eventually ended up with a 4% increase to the TPS operating budget. We appreciate the collaboration and conversations with all parties involved in developing this budget.
There were several victories for our schools with this budget. First, we are delighted that the Literacy and Math Coaches that support our students and teachers remain intact. Each of our schools typically has two literacy coaches and one math coach to support the 500 students. These positions are critical in ensuring that all students maximize their learning potential. Second, we added a Technology Education Teacher and Business Education Teacher to Trumbull High School. Both positions support our students by providing needed STEM and Financial Literacy courses that are now graduation requirements. The positions also provide more opportunities for students to maximize the new 8 drop 2 bell schedule at the high school. Third, we were able to add a spring athletic opportunity for our Middle School students. Cross Country and Basketball existed for the Fall and Winter, but no school-sponsored athletic opportunities existed in the Spring. Fourth, we supported a more robust increase in our technology account to ensure that our staff and students have the technology needed to engage in teaching and learning at a high level.
Unfortunately, there are still some strong headwinds for future budget discussions. The one I am most concerned about is how the State is handling Excess Cost Reimbursements. The link provides a great deal of information regarding how this reimbursement is supposed to work. Unfortunately, during the 2023-2024 school year when we expected about a 72% reimbursement rate, we only received a 67% reimbursement rate. This makes it very challenging to budget for any given school year. If the State of Connecticut does not fund the Excess Cost Grant to the appropriate level, then more of the costs will be shifted to local taxpayers. The other headwind is inflation. Inflation has remained sticky and much of our budget increase for 2024-2025 was used to pay for the increased costs of goods and services. While I hope that inflation can be tamed back to 2% per year, it is hard to see what lies on the horizon.
