August 24, 2023 at 6:30 PM - Board of Education Resource Management & Business Operations Committee Meeting

Five years ago, and as a result of a competitive bidding process, The Board of Education awarded a five-year contract to Base Technologies Inc. for the lease of Kyocera copier machines and managed print services.  This contract expires in November, 2023.  The change to Base Technologies has resulted in improved services to the schools compared to our prior vendor, because BASE is able to respond to issues more quickly.  

As an authorized Kyocera dealer, Base Technologies Inc. is able to offer a five-year contract renewal with pricing based on the Kyocera NASPO State of Connecticut Contract (#140599) with an additional discount through the OMNIA Kyocera Discounted Educational Program.  The deepest discounts are associated with an August or September start date.  Contract Renewal Options are summarized below.

If we select a September Installation for the leased copier machines we will be to maintain our current level of services at a reduced cost compared to our current contracted rate.  Therefore, I am recommending that we renew our five-year contract with Base Technologies with a September start date.

First Student has made multiple improvements for the coming school year.  They are currently staffed with exactly enough bus drivers to run all scheduled bus routes.  Optimal staffing would include 2 or 3 spare drivers.  Multiple drivers are in the candidate pipeline and hiring will continue to be prioritized.  Also, the bus routes have been redesigned to be more efficient.  

At the end of June, 2023 we were able to use savings in multiple accounts to pay for needed special education services as well as facilities repairs. The Special Education services overages were primarily driven by increased costs for outplaced students as well as additional services required to support the increase in the number of Special Education Students.   Facilities overages were driven by the replacement of the failed BMS domestic hot water heater, urgent elevator repairs and HVAC repairs.  All transfers were aligned with the memo to the Board of Education in June and subsequently voted on in the regular meeting in June.  

1. The finance team is working to close out all remaining items from the 2022 - 2023 school year.  Going into the 2023 - 2024 school year we are monitoring Special Education and Facilities spending closely as these are the areas where we anticipate the most risk to our budget. 

2. The 2023 - 2024 operating budget includes an $850,000 reimbursement for excess cost. Based on the updated funding guidelines from CSDE and our current student enrollment, we project that we will receive funding of $1,100,000.  We would like to use the $245,000 in additional funds to pay for 1 special education teacher and 5 para educators that were funded by grants last year.  We have a long term need for these resources and recommend that they be incorporated into the Board of Education Operating Budget.