001[music] I'd like to call to order the Farmington Board of Education regular and budget meeting for Monday, February 2nd, 2026 at 7 p.m. Can we all rise for the Pledge of Allegiance? I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Next item on the agenda, item three, is inviting and receiving public comment and communications. It doesn't look like we have anybody here for public comment. So, we'll close public comment. Um, item four is approval of minutes. Uh, we don't have any yet. Um, item five, consideration of superintendence report. A, professional appointments, resignations, and retirements. >> Oh, good evening everyone. Included in your packet this evening are some professional appointments, resignations, and retirements.
002We have one resignation at Farmington High School, Allora Reynolds. Uh, and then we have six retiring teachers this year. Uh, we have Sabrina Dashesky, a world language teacher at Westwood's Upper Elementary School, uh, who is retiring with 33 years of experience here in Farmington. Paula Fielding, a mathematics teacher at IR, uh, who's retiring with 29 years of experience here in the district. Uh, John Costl, a mathematics teacher, Farmington High School, retiring after 12 years in the district. Pamela Rose, uh, another mathematics teacher at Farmington High, who's retiring with 20 years of experience. uh Yavon Stoops who is a world language teacher also at Farmington High School uh retiring after six years with us and finally Trisha Troxel an 8th grade ELA teacher at I uh who will be retiring with 22 years of experience. So
003based on my quick math that's a total of 122 years of experience [laughter] or 21,960 days of school. So uh we've got quite a bit of experience. Uh but we wish them all the best in whatever adventures follow them. Uh and we thank them for all their many years and many days of service here in Farmington. >> Any comments or anything? No, I just um I know some of these teachers u my kids have had them and I just want to say thank you for their dedication to the profession and also to their service for the students and families of the Farmington Public Schools. All right, next item on the agenda, item six, unfinished business. Item A, budget impact, budget update. So, uh, as a followup from our conversation on Saturday, we did uh, reflect
004back on a couple of the items that we left off with at the end of the day. Um, one was for pages 50 uh, 43, sorry, through 50, which was the chart about the various projects. Uh, and so Dan, Beth, Matt, and the team have been looking at how um in the future we can kind of pull the item codes together and kind of clean up that chart so it'll specifically list um the budget code and the projects that fall under it. We don't have that for you this evening because they're still working through some pieces um in our budgeting software, but we'll hope hopefully have that for you in the future. Um, another item was the MIHIP, uh, which was the municipal health, uh, care plan, and Dan was able to find some information
005for you about that. >> Yeah, we reached out to One Digital today who kind of shared out with us, uh, according to One Digital, um, well, um, the Mun M municipal employees health insurance program that we're too large of an organization to for it to to qualify for it. And so, um, that's why when they give us comparisons to it, they use the state partnership plan, the I think the 2.0 as the, uh, kind of like the benchmark to compare against our self- insurance plan. >> Those were the two pieces that we went back around, but certainly we know you've had some time to reflect and look back through your own notes. So, our team is here this evening to follow up on any outstanding questions, thoughts, comments that you have um as we make
006some final considerations. >> All right. So, that would be really item B, right? >> All right. So, moving on to item B, continuation of budget review. Budget book review of superintendent's recommended budget. Page by page review of the 2026 2027 budget book. Do anybody Does anybody have any follow-up questions? comments, >> Beth? It's just the retirements that we got in tonight's agenda. I assume those were well on their way. >> Since Saturday, we have not received any additional notifications. Correct. >> Just checking on that. [clears throat] >> Then we'll move on to item seven, new business. A consideration of motion to adopt the 2026 2027 school district budget or adjourn and continue on to February 3rd, 2026 budget workshop. >> I need a motion. >> Yep. I move that the Farmington Board of Education recommends
007the Farmington Town Council a 2026 2027 budget of 86,858,554. That reflects a total increase of $3,617,571 or a 4.35% over the 2025 2026 board of education budget. >> Set up there. No, >> the one above it I think is the >> hang force. >> There you go. >> Got it. Sorry. >> All right. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> It was either Ann or Matt. >> Yeah, [laughter] >> both. >> I don't know who got to it first. All right. So, um, comments, discussion. Go ahead, Angela. Um, I just prepared a statement that I'm going to read um about my vote. So, I'm just going to read it. Um, I'd like to thank Superintendent Jinini and his entire staff for putting together the comprehensive 2026 2027 bud budget package. The amount of time
008and effort required to develop this budget is not lost on me and I sincerely appreciate the work of everyone involved. I also found our discussions over the past several days to be productive and appreciate the follow-up conversations as well as the specific adjustments that were made in response to questions and concerns that have been raised in prior years. So, thank you. When the town supported the construction of the new Farmington High School several years ago, the community was presented with projections indicating the board of education budget increases would average approximately 3% during the period of increased debt services, which is now. Unfortunately, as a community, we have not come close to adhering to the 3% guidance in recent years, and my mind always goes to all those in Farmington who bear the weight of any
009increases we propose. While I recognize the town council ultimately approves the overall municipal budget, the board of education accounts for approximately twothirds of Farmington's total budget, and I do view it as a part of our job to find creative ways to meet our district needs while still falling uh falling in projected financial guidelines. Given that responsibility, I personally cannot in good conscious support an increase over 3% at this time, particularly when so many local families are facing financial challenges. Um I do believe there remains room for additional efficiencies and I hope we can continue the productive conversations moving forward so that in the future um I would feel comfortable in the report. But thank you. >> Anybody else comments? does. >> Um, sure. Of course, I wanted to express my appreciation to um, Superintendent [clears
010throat] Jamini, uh, the entire administration team, the admin staff, all the building administrators for their hard work in creating the budget. And then I realized there's a lot of time and effort spent on fine-tuning it and making preliminary reductions and all of those discussions and then finally presenting it to the board. I thought it was a really uh, fruitful meeting on Saturday. very well presented. Um, and I I just want to point out that this budget, while coming in at a lower increase from last year's district budget, is one that really thoughtfully responds to student needs and provides an improved structure in the special services department staffing that I I know will allow for more effective and efficient responsiveness to those um students and families, many many of those students and families in our district.
011Um, and I think that was a a really important thing, something we have to be proud of in this budget. So, as we were able to see from our line by line discussion on Saturday, the cost increases that we're faced with aren't correlated neatly with the overall rate of inflation. Um, but they do reflect significant and awful often um, volatile rising costs in the areas of technology, healthcare, supplies, equipment, and services. Um, our economy is very volatile right now and we're we're seeing that in this budget. Um, but again, given all of that, this budget still comes in at a lower rate increase from last year and I think it's very fiscally responsible um while addressing um the needs of our students. So, I can say with confidence that our district will continue to provide
012a meaningful and stellar education for all of our students um with a strategic and fiscally responsible budget that's been brought forward to us and reviewed by the board for the 2627 school year. So, I do support this budget and I want to again express my appreciation for the the new superintendent and his leadership in this process and to the entire team's effort in preparing this budget. So, I look forward to voting yes on this budget. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> Um, I just want to echo I just want to echo what F said that, you know, I again I continue to be very proud of our district and the work that is um we we do on a regular basis, educators do on a regular basis to meet the needs of our students. And
013though there were discussions in the past about you know specific rates and so forth um at any given day in this specifically in this building coming into this building that we all every resident of Farmington should be very proud of you will see the smiles of students high school students you will see the smiles of elementary school students who are also coming in here daytoday to see their siblings or to see their siblings uh play sports to see their siblings in dance and arts and so forth. that the culture that is in here is not it goes beyond even academics it goes to also an emotional profitful feeling and you can't sometimes put a cost to that um the other thing that I would say is that the uh changes that have happened since this
014the high school or the referendum the changes that have happened in our community in the sense of our students needs has been very significant that is significant not just to Farmington but across the state we are seeing the emotional and behavioral health needs of our students that is impacting the day-to-day education. And I think that this budget has done a very good job of making sure to address that and also coming in line with what the Connecticut uh state statute has said we need to invest in um and bringing back our special education students, you know, from out of district back into in district because that is a cost savings. um and also in order to address their emotional needs which impact their schools every educational system every day. And I think that of the
015families of those students and the grandparents of those students and even our own larger community would feel very proud of the fact that this system is actually responding to those needs. So thank you so much >> Matt. Sure. >> Good evening. [clears throat] Uh, first I just want to thank Superintendent Janini, uh, the entire team, Veronica, Dan, Matt, Wendy, Beth. I thought everyone did an excellent job with the presentations in the decks. I thought it was really high quality work and it was really helpful for me as a new board member to understand the budget and all the uh, sort of ins and outs. So, I I I really appreciate that. Um, I also want to thank my board, fellow board members, especially Chair Savinsky and Vice Chair Raccliffe for their dedication to public service.
016Uh, tonight I'll be supporting this budget and I'll be voting yes. I think this budget is clear about our district's priorities. We supporting special services to meet the needs of our students with really complex learning profiles, right, and highly specialized programming, investing in instructional and operational technology. So, Farmington remains a highly competitive educational institution in making targeted investments to maintain and protect our facilities and responsibly managing unavoidable cost pressures that we're all seeing and facing in terms of rising health care or the effects of general inflation. All trying to continue to ensure equal opportunities for every student. I also believe this is a fiscally responsible budget. It strengthened key areas while recognizing the reality that we have here of a modest enrollment decline. I also want the acknowledge the budget the impact this budget has
017in our tax payers and I believe it reflects a thoughtful balance between fiscal responsibility and our obligation to provide highquality public education. That reality does come with difficult decisions, including the reduction of seven elementary teaching positions, four of which are currently filled, right, as a result of expected declining enrollment. Decisions like this have a real impact on people, on classrooms, and on school communities, and they should not be taken lightly. And I've thought about it a lot. But where possible, I'm hopeful these reductions can be managed through attrition, reassignments, or other staffing adjustments so that individuals impacted are able to remain with the district. Like our superintendent often says and has said throughout this process, our people are our greatest asset. While I'm aligning my vote with our established studenttoteer ratio policy, I want to
018underscore the importance of limiting to the extent possible individual classrooms that exceed those guidelines. If circumstances arise where that cannot be avoided, I would welcome those considerations coming back to the board for dis discussion. Mainta maintaining quality in the classroom must remain the non-negotiable outcome as these changes are implemented. Again, for all those reasons I stated, I support the budget as presented and I urge my fellow board members to do the same. Thank you. Um, I also want to express my full support for our 202627 school budget. Um, we had a it was very clear that every dollar in this $86 million request was carefully considered. Um, as I quickly learned, um, moving through a zerobased budgeting process is no small feat. Um it requires every department to justify their needs from the ground up
019and that transparency is what is expected from our board and from the town. Um I want to commend superintendent Janini and assistant superintendent Rutick and Zatun and the rest of the central office team who worked tirelessly to provide the most efficient and effective budget for our district. Um I want to congratulate this team um on their first budget um in a high achieving district such as ours. Um everybody approached it with a clear focus on each student's success and well-being and to ensure that the vision of a global citizen stood at the forefront of the decisions. um the impacts of expanding and building capacity for the special services department. Um supporting educators and other professionals and improvements in our school facilities are um all line items in our budget that are personally important to me
020and will be felt for years to come. Um thank you to everyone including all of our fellow members of the board um for everyone's hard work and support and dedication to the students. Anyone else? [clears throat] >> Yeah, I'll just uh echo um what my fellow board members said. Um first by thanking the uh the entire staff, Dan, Veronica, Matt, Sam, Wendy, Beth, and the central office support team at D, Darlene, Mary. Um your your work is just tireless in this process. Um and that does not go unnoticed u by anybody. Um and I want to make sure that that is stated publicly over and over and over again. You guys are amazing. Um, I also want to thank uh, Superintendent Janini. Um, first budget coming in mid-stream. Um, I think you did a fantastic
021job of owning it. Um, and uh, and working with your team and also um, echoing what Matt said. Um, continuing to focus on the teachers. Um, and they are indeed our most important asset. Um, and it is not lost on me that we are, you know, looking to potentially reduce the staff. Um, again, hopefully that that works out through attrition. But, um, I'm in full support of this budget. It's clear, concise, free of excess. Um, it is fiscally prudent, um, responsible. Um, and, you know, I think you guys have done an amazing job um, working and I will say what I did uh, echo what I said on Saturday, um, is that this bud, this district has historically run lean compared to other districts in our Derby. Um, and I think that that is also
022something that we need to continue to um, focus on and understand as a board is that this administration is small in comparison. Um, you guys do a lot with less than some other districts do. Um, so again, um, commending you all on the work that you do and we all know after Saturday and through the throughout this budget and the last couple of years that I've been on the board, um, where your priorities are and I appreciate them very much as a parent and as a board member. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you everybody for your your comments. Um, I also just want to once again thank um the superintendent, the his administrative team, um the building principles, um all the support staff, um because I know there's a lot of behind thescenes work that
023goes into developing a budget um and countless hours. Um I know um Dan has said this, you're always working in three budgets. the one from last year, the one you're in, and next year's. So, there isn't a moment of any day that you're not always involved in working on a budget, and I appreciate it. Um, you know, as I said on Saturday, as board members, we serve as fiduciaries of public education. Um, in this role, we are responsible for setting the educational direction of this district and for ensuring that the budget allocations directly support the district's mission, vision, and strategic goals and enable all students to achieve academic and personal excellence. Ultimately, however, and I've said this in past budget meetings, the decision regarding how much funding is appropriated for education rests with the town
024council as part of its broader responsibility to balance the needs of the entire community. And in that context, the board's budget is not simply a financial document. It's a values document. It reflects what we prioritize as a district and how we translate our mission into action. This recommended budget supports the core values of the Farmington public schools by advancing high levels of learning, supporting student well-being, and ensuring equitable opportunities for all students. It also demonstrates responsible steward stewardship of public resources and a commitment to transparency and accountability. While there are always competing needs and difficult choices, this budget represents a thoughtful effort to align our educational goals with fiscal responsibility. And for these reasons, I fully support the budget as recommended by the superintendent. So, if um I guess we have a a motion and
025a second and everybody's had their opportunity for comment and discussion. So, all those in favor? >> I opposed. >> Nay. >> Abstensions. Okay. The motion passes. And we now have um we've gone from the superintendent's recommended budget to uh the board's adopted budget for the 2026 2027 school year, which will be um sent on to the town council. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, next item is item eight, consideration of assistant superintendent of finance and operations report. There is none. Item nine, report of the board chair. Um, I don't really have anything to report on other than I just want to thank everybody for um their hard work over uh the past, you know, three meetings. We have four new board members and it's a lot to um to take on in
026only three meetings. You come into your first budget um and you know everybody came prepared. You ask great questions. We had good dialogue and discussion. So I just thank thank everybody for their collaborative efforts. Um so we won't need a meeting tomorrow or Wednesday. Um, >> sure. Happy to cancel those. >> Yes, we'll cancel those meetings. >> Um, so I think that's it until really our next board meeting in March. Um, I know you have the uh meeting dates for the town council budget workshops. Um, so hopefully that you can attend those. Um, but with that, I'm I don't have anything else. So we'll need a motion to adjurnn. I move to adjourn at 7:23. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. Abstension. Motion carries. We are adjourned. Thank you. [music]