Following through on concerns about the priority of budget spending, the Common Council Finance & Claims Committee trimmed $2 million from the proposed budget. From the Norwalk Advocate:

The Board of Estimate and Taxation has line-item control over the budget, but the finance committee proposed that the BET split the recommended $2 million cut about evenly between the Board of Education and the city.

In an interview after the meeting, school Superintendent Salvatore Corda said cutting the Board of Education’s requested spending increase by the amount proposed would result in “devastating” program reductions.

The school board requested $147.7 million for next fiscal year, an increase of about 8.3 percent, or $11.3 million, more than this year’s budget.

“I’m not exaggerating, and I’m not trying to engage in scare tactics,” Corda said. “What I am saying is that the impact would be staggering.”

Parrotting the same line, The Hour reports that Board of Ed members Jodi Bishop-Pullan and Thomas Vetter were devastating.

School board Chairman Jody Bishop-Pullan and Thomas J. Vetter, chairman of the board’s budget committee were at City Hall Tuesday night for an education funding forum (see related story, page A3). Upon learning of the committee’s recommendation, they predicted that a $141.5 million school budget would devastate programs.

“It will decimate programs. We will have to cut out programs that are not mandatory,” Bishop-Pullan said.

Hempstead took aim earlier at $300,000 sought by the school board to replace mathematics textbooks in elementary schools, and expressed hope that the public works director will get the full $500,000 he requested to clean storm drains and dredge retention ponds.

“(Replacing textbooks) every two years and (drainage) pipes every 50 years? Pretty good,” Hempstead said sarcastically.

Hempstead is right to question the constant change of textbooks. The Educational textbook Industry churns out constant change to earn profits on pace with Wall Street expectations rather than because of innovations to curriculum. The great Stephen Jay Gould pointed out that textbook authors can be quite lazy.

Early on, the authors tended to use cat breeds as the best analogy, but then one author — an English gentleman known for his love of fox-hunting — uses the foxhound analogy and 150 years later, all authors talk about the same breed of dog when describing Eohippus. In doing this, Gould has exposed the laziness of textbook authors. Each of them has used an identical analogy, copying from previous authors, ignoring their own ability to use critical thought. Simultaneously, he has given some fascinating insights into the habits of textbook authors and some snippets of historical fact … (source: everything2.com)

The problem with our Norwalk educators is that they too have become lazy, and not used to using critical thinking. There should be vigorous examination of spending with a critical eye on how to reduce it.  This is the similar argument that has manufacturing CEOs promising to cut back labor instead of looking at bloated management layers and bureaucracy for cutbacks. The Board of Ed would do well to start with cost savings fist instead of spending increases.
Source: Norwalk Advocate, Councilors want smaller tax increase, By Matt Breslow, February 27 2007

Source: The Hour, Committee seeks to shave $2M from city budget, By ROBERT KOCH, February 27 2007