During the March 20, 2014 meeting, the First Selectman and the Board of Finance voted to eliminate funding for School Resource Officers (SROs) from the Municipal Budget by moving the expense to the Board of Education Budget.
"Essentially the SROs were cut out of the town budget," said Victor Katz, Board of Education member. According to Katz, neither the BOE nor the Chief of Police was consulted prior to the decision. "It was decided upon by the First Selectman, approved by the Board of Finance with an assumption that the funding will come from the BOE."
The addition of SROs to the Brookfield Public School District was proposed following the 12/14 tragedy in Sandy Hook and implemented in 2013. The program includes two full-time uniformed officers, one present at Whisconier Middle School and one at Brookfield High School. A Memorandum Agreement was signed between the town and the school district which states that resources to support the SROs would be provided by the Police Department.
"The SROs are Police Officers and town employees under the command of the Brookfield Police Department," said Katz. "They belong to a Police Union and are part of the Town Police Department which is overseen by the Town Police Commission. For all these reasons they are and have been in the town budget, just like every other town employee from other town departments."
The Board of Finance approved a $38.3 million dollar education budget, a .05% increase over last year's budget, but less than the budget proposed by the Board of Education. If the reduced budget is approved approved by the town vote in May, the district may need to reduce staff and increase class sizes.
"I also anticipate that along with this decision reversal, the funding will also be removed from the already scorched BOE budget," said Katz. "If that is the case, then the BOE budget will be at or very close to the Minimum Budget Requirement according to the state law."
The Board of Education will meet on Wednesday, April 2, 2014 in the Brookfield High School Media Center. A public budget hearing will be held at 7:00 pm on April 8, 2014 in the Brookfield High School Auditorium.