KENT, Conn.—A recent Board of Finance meeting took on the task of reducing the proposed budget for 2026 but also looked beyond the figures on the page to discuss ways of controlling escalating costs in the future.
Member Jason Wright again advocated for the Board of Education to think creatively about ways to increase enrollment and revenues at Kent Center School.
He noted that about half the town’s $7.4 million budget goes toward the education 194 elementary school students and 41 at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village.
“I would like to recommend that the Board of Education be more mindful of the fact that business as usual is not an acceptable practice in the future,” he said. “When we look at the school board’s number, the census is not visible. I don’t think the town understands how many kids are in the school. This additive approach is never going to address the issue of a school with under 200 students that takes half the budget.”
The ratio of teachers to students at the little elementary school is 7 to 1 ratio, and Wright praised the educational results.
“There’s nobody that comes close in Region 1,” he said, reporting that the school is 101st out of 575 elementary school in the state. “We have done something that works there, and we have to be mindful of that,” he said. “That is a great message for future homeowners to hear and we don’t want to muck that up, but that does not absolve us from looking at the iceberg out there.”
Despite an increase in the incoming kindergarten population, student populations are predicted to drop even more in coming years. Wright said that looking for solutions to the cost/population conundrum must be “key” in the coming year.
Board Chairman Nancy O’Dea-Wyrick complained that the rate of tuition charged for students from other towns has been flat for years, an issue she has raised with the school board in previous years. Revenue from tuitions was included at $30,000 in the current budget.
Member Charles Cogut opined that it would make sense for the towns to cooperate more. “There are people in Gaylordsville who would love to send their kids to Kent,” he said. Gaylordsville is not a Region 1 town, but Wright suggested creative thinking might come up with a solution.
Odea Wyrick noted that the per-pupil cost for Kent Center students is $34,531 and that joining with other towns could provide economy of scale. For other towns, the circumstances are even more dire: in Sharon per pupil costs are more than $56,000. “We’re thinly populated and it’s tough,” Odea Wyrick said.
“People cannot afford to live here,” said member Rufus L. DeRahm. “We need a higher density of housing—we have to be proactive about that. We all live here because it’s beautiful, but we have to recognize there has to be a balance. We have to think about bringing people into the downtown corridor.”
The town is exploring affordable housing, but Wright noted that it could be five years before the housing can accept families. “In the meantime, it can’t be, ‘We’ve always done it this way.’”
After a discussion of how much to reduce the bottom line of the Board of Education’s budget, the members settled on a cut of $25,000, but added another part to the motion formally recommending that the school board commit to an annual increase to tuition to soften the rising cost of education.
What did the recent Board of Finance meeting in Kent focus on besides reducing the proposed budget for 2026?