Spending is up but Norfolk’s assessment is down

By Wiley Wood

A referendum among the four towns of the Northwestern Regional School District #7 approved a 2015-16 budget calling for a 3.17 percent increase in spending over last year. The budget was unpopular in New Hartford, which voted against it, but was carried by the voters of the other three towns: Norfolk, Colebrook and Barkhamsted.

The school’s total budget is set at $20.18 million, and enrollment is expected to be 1,123 students.

New Hartford, with over half of the students at Regional #7 next year, will pay over half of the total costs. Barkhamsted, with almost 30 percent of the students, will pay almost 30 percent of the cost, and the remainder is split about evenly between Norfolk and Colebrook.

Norfolk’s assessment for the 109 students it expects to send to Regional in the coming year is $1,770,000. This is 3.7 percent less than last year, due to a lower enrollment.

The per-student cost at Regional will jump 10 percent in the coming year. Don Torrant, one of two Norfolk residents on the Northwestern Regional Board of Education, attributes the rise to an increase in special education funding. Four students will enter middle school next year who need to be educated outside of the district. The costs, which include transportation, are steep.

In addition, students needing special education within the district are increasing in number from 12 to 17, and four new educational assistants will need to be hired.

The school is also adding a social worker to its staff.

Torrant praises the school’s leadership, its board of education, and Superintendant Judy Palmer, who is largely responsible for the budget each year. “She is a great combination of cheerleader, manager and forward thinker,” says Torrant.

The school has the fourth lowest per-pupil cost in the region and has consistently rated among the top schools in the state for student achievement and learning. Chinese is among the language offerings. There is a strong agricultural program, an active and successful robotics group, and an array of offerings in the performing arts.

“It was a challenge in budgeting for this year to maintain the range of programs, given the increases in special ed costs,” says Torrant. A mandate that will require high school students to obtain more credits to graduate is soon to come into effect, but a program that would have anticipated this development had to be deferred, along with maintenance costs for the school building.

Torrant expressed appreciation for Norfolk’s support of the budget. Citing in particular the wide range of programs that the school offers, Torrant—whose three adult children are graduates—concluded, “We can be very proud of Regional 7.”

The public portion of the regional district’s budget process starts with hearings in March and April in each of the towns and ends with a referendum in the first week of May.