See You In Court! CABE Monthly Column
“See You In Court!” is written by Thomas Mooney and appears in the CABE Journal, a publication of the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education.
Bob Bombast, veteran member of the Nutmeg Board of Education, woke from a deep sleep and realized that he and his fellow Board members were entering the dreaded budget season, when they must come up with a budget for 2026-2027 to present to the Town of Nutmeg. It has been a painful process in the past, and Bob decided that this year things would be different.
At the beginning of the first budget workshop, Bob promptly moved that the discussion be held in executive session to discuss “personnel matters.” Bob explained that budget deliberations perforce include discussion of whether the positions held by identified individuals should be eliminated, and he felt that it was simply inhumane to talk publicly about such matters before the Board makes the difficult decisions on staff cuts.
The Board then voted unanimously to move the discussion into executive session. Once the room was cleared, Mr. Superintendent shared the grim news that the Board was on track to end the year in deficit because of unanticipated special education costs, and that there was no end to such expenses in sight. Anticipating that such expenses would continue, he explained, other reductions would be necessary for the coming year, including elimination of both the talented and gifted (TAG) program and middle school sports.
Board member Mal Content spoke up to oppose Mr. Superintendent’s recommendations. “We are elected to do what’s right, and cutting the TAG program is not right! We should submit a budget request that includes all the funds we will need for the coming year. If the Town of Nutmeg will not appropriate the necessary funds, the resulting cuts will be on them, not us!” The other Board members concurred, and through further discussion then and at future meetings, the Board adopted its budget for the upcoming year, which it then submitted to the Board of Finance for action.
Seymour Dollars, longtime Chair of the Board of Finance, was not pleased, and he stated publicly that he was disappointed with the “irresponsible” actions of the Board of Education at a time when taxpayers are suffering. By formal letter, Seymour then presented the Board of Education with recommendations on how the Board of Education can operate more efficiently, including consolidation of HR and IT functions with the Town.
The Nutmeg Board of Education called a special meeting to discuss the letter from Seymour Dollars. When Ms. Chairman convened the meeting and invited discussion of Seymour’s recommendations, Bob Bombast spoke up first. “Who on God’s green earth does Seymour think he is?” Bob began. “He should stay in his lane and just give us the money we need.” The other Board members shared Bob’s indignation, and the Board decided to ignore Seymour’s recommendations and to wait for the Board of Finance to act on its budget request.
At the next Board of Finance meeting, Seymour and the Board adopted a budget recommendation to present to the Town Council that included a $250,000 reduction in the budget that the Board of Education had submitted. Seymour was quoted in the Nutmeg Bugle as saying that the Board of Finance had made the tough choices this year because the Board of Education had failed to do so.
Should the Nutmeg Board of Education have approached the budget process differently?
