WHITINGHAM- Twin Valley School Board members may have been overly optimistic when they were setting up the seating for this year’s school budget informational meeting Tuesday evening. Fewer than a dozen voters showed up to hear about the 2011 budget, leaving most of the 70 seats empty. Voters in Whitingham and Wilmington will go to the polls on Thursday, January 14, to weigh in on the 2011 Twin Valley School budget.

But voters may have stayed home because there’s little to kvetch about in next year’s budget. Board members said they cut $285,000 from the initial proposed budget. Much of the savings came from personnel cuts, including a reduction of a half-time foreign language teacher and half-time remedial math teacher at the high school, and the elimination of one administrative position. Starting in 2011, the middle and high schools will share a vice principal. Other reductions include a decrease of $35,000 in the district’s supervisory union assessment, and nearly $50,000 in teachers’ salaries and professional development costs. “We got a little help from the teachers,” said TVSB chair Ed Metcalfe. “They’re working two fewer in-service days, and their pay was reduced by that amount.”

The cuts went beyond “level funding,” resulting in a budget of $5,041,284 - nearly $200,000, or 3.81%, under the current budget. Despite the cuts, Metcalfe said, Whitingham will still see an increase of 10 cents in their tax rate thanks to a drop in the common level of appraisal and an increase in the statewide education tax. Wilmington voters will see a significant decrease in their tax rates, mainly due to an increase in their common level of appraisal after a recent revaluation.

But Wilmington resident Richard Sugarman noted that the school was also experiencing a decline in the number of students. Despite the board’s budget cuts, he said, the net effect could still be an increase in the per-pupil cost. “Well that’s going to happen,” said Metcalfe. “If you have a class of 20 kids and you lose two, you still need that teacher, but the cost per student goes up.”

WSSU Business Manager Ronda Lackey noted that, since the Twin Valley School District was created in 2005, the board has cut eight teaching positions. Metcalfe added that they had done so without compromising the education program

Sugarman also asked if teachers’ contracted four percent salary increases could be negotiated. “In a year when folks on Social Security get no pay raise, veterans on disability get no pay raise, and inflation is almost zilch, why can’t that be negotiated down?” he asked. Metcalfe said it was unlikely teachers would agree to reopen contract negotiations to accept a lower pay raise, but he pointed out that teachers had already agreed to take a reduction in their salaries for fewer days worked.

The topic of consolidation also came up for discussion. Sugarman noted that, with the imminent departure of WSSU Superintendent Dr. M. Peter Wright, now might be the time to explore the option of consolidating with another supervisory union. “We know it’s coming anyway,” he said. “The state is serious about reducing the number of supervisory unions to 16.”

But Twin Valley Facility chair and Wilmington School Board member Phil Taylor said the state’s premise, that consolidation and larger school districts save money, doesn’t appear to be backed by any solid data. “Look at Burlington’s school district,” Taylor said. “They have expenses equal to 87 other school districts combined. If consolidation saves money, then the cost of education in a huge school district like Burlington should be far lower. We’ve kept our increases at an average of two percent over the past six years, (Burlington’s) went up by nine percent this year.”

Taylor said it was time for the state to confront high-spending districts like Burlington before they mandate changes that may not achieve any cost reduction.