Schools
Ridgefield School Board Defers FY26 Financial Report, Approves Request For More Pre-K Space
Ridgefield's school board deferred its FY26 financial report and unanimously backed a request for more pre-K space.
RIDGEFIELD, CT — The Ridgefield Board of Education postponed approval of its 2025-26 year-end financial report Monday after members learned that some bills tied to the fiscal year were being charged to the current year's budget, leaving questions about the district's actual year-end position.
The board also unanimously authorized Superintendent Susie Da Silva to ask the town for additional space for Ridgefield's prekindergarten program, but removed language from the proposed letter identifying Cadence Academy as a preferred option. Members also adopted new board values, reorganized several committees and discussed how the Board of Education will participate in a yearlong strategic planning process.
The Sept. 14 meeting was held at 90 East Ridge Road. The agenda listed the financial report, board values, committee structure and district planning process among the evening's possible action items.
Board Holds Off On Financial Report
The district's 2025-26 fiscal year-end report showed an original and final operating budget of $119.796 million, expenditures of $119,776,275 and an apparent remaining balance of $19,725.
Director of Finance Jill Browne told the board that several areas exceeded their final budgets, including professional services by $791,739, noncertified salaries by $393,161 and electricity by $273,061. Those costs were offset by surpluses in other accounts, including $388,931 in fringe benefits, $217,602 in equipment and $191,527 in property and liability insurance.
Related: Ridgefield School Officials Narrow Master Plan Options: What Grows? What Goes…?
Special education was one of the larger pressures on the budget. The packet shows special education professional services and tuition and settlements exceeding their combined final budget by $776,856 before other special education accounts and additional state Excess Cost reimbursement were considered. The district received $456,234 more in Excess Cost reimbursement than originally budgeted.
Pupil Personnel Services also finished $630,367 over its total budget, driven largely by a $664,957 deficit in professional services. During the meeting, administrators said those expenses included outside evaluations, consultations and hospitalized tutoring.
The central issue for board members emerged when Browne explained that some invoices associated with 2025-26 were being recorded in fiscal 2026-27.
Browne said a $76,000 Shipman & Goodwin legal bill was among the expenses placed in the new fiscal year and acknowledged that the district would have finished 2025-26 in deficit had all of those expenses been included in the year-end numbers. She did not have the total amount of those deferred expenses available during the meeting.
Board member Kathryn Graf asked the administration to quantify the expenses and questioned the treatment of costs incurred in one fiscal year but recorded in another. Other members raised similar concerns about the appropriate accounting treatment and said the board should obtain guidance on governmental accounting rules before acting.
Chair Tina Malhotra concluded that the board was not prepared to approve the report without a clearer figure and additional information. The vote was deferred.
The agenda's suggested motion had called for the board to approve the year-end FY26 report that night.
Pre-K Space Request Approved, Cadence Language Removed
The board unanimously approved sending an amended letter to First Selectperson Rudy Marconi asking the town to obtain additional space for Ridgefield's pre-K program.
A memorandum from Assistant Superintendent of Special Services Christine Sipala says Ridgefield is legally required to have special education programming available by an identified child's third birthday. The district currently operates half-day, extended-day and full-day preschool models, with programs at Barlow Mountain and Veterans Park elementary schools.
Sipala said enrollment growth, the change in Connecticut's kindergarten entry age and an increase in children with disabilities and more complex learning needs have put additional pressure on the program's available space. Ridgefield began the 2026-27 school year with 66 preschool students and had received 29 referrals as of Sept. 4. The previous school year began with 76 students and ended with 99.
An April 2025 preschool presentation outlines the district's obligations and earlier discussion of the program.
The original draft letter asked the Board of Selectpersons to pursue additional property for the pre-K program and cited provisions of the town charter governing school facility needs and town property acquisition.
Related: Ridgefield School Committee Backs Pre-K Space Talks, Prioritizes Air Quality
But the draft went further, saying consultants MP Planning and Studio JAED had identified Cadence Academy as "the most appropriate and cost-effective solution" for the district's pre-K space needs. It also acknowledged that district representatives had not visited the facility.
Several members objected to sending that paragraph on behalf of the full board because the board itself had not selected Cadence Academy.
BOE Vice Chair Jonathan Paradiso said the consultants could identify the property as an option, but the full board had not agreed that it should be the preferred location. Board members Christine More and Dawn-Marie Callahan also raised concerns about implying that the board had reached a conclusion it had not formally discussed.
Members ultimately agreed to remove the entire Cadence paragraph while retaining the request for additional pre-K space.
The motion authorized Da Silva to send the draft letter with that paragraph deleted. It passed unanimously.
Board Reduces Committee Structure
The board also moved ahead with changes to its committee structure developed during its Aug. 24 retreat.
Members unanimously renamed the Curriculum Committee the Teaching and Learning Committee. The board also approved changing the Strategic Planning Committee to the Facilities and Operations Committee.
The board voted to dissolve the Budget, Finance and Operations Committee and the Bylaw Subcommittee. Financial matters previously reviewed by the budget committee will instead go to the full board, while bylaw matters will also be handled at the full-board level.
Facilities and Operations Committee Chair Scott Sigel said consultants have been studying the condition and use of the district's buildings and examining scenarios ranging from maintaining all existing schools to elementary consolidation and construction of a new elementary school.
Sigel emphasized that no decisions had been made. He said the full board and community could expect a presentation on potential investment scenarios within about a month.
Board Unanimously Adopts Core Values
The board unanimously adopted a set of guiding principles covering student focus, integrity, respect and collaboration, transparency and accountability, financial stewardship, innovation and continuous improvement, and "1 RPS."
Malhotra said the values are intended to serve as an "anchor" for board decision-making and communication.
Strategic Planning Process Draws Discussion
Da Silva also presented more detail on the district's yearlong strategic planning process, which is intended to result in a three- to five-year plan.
The packet includes the district's initial strategic planning proposal, a Strategic Planning Playbook, a Q&A addressing board members' questions and examples of strategic plans.
The packet also links to Policy and Regulation 2000.1, which became a focus of the discussion over the respective roles of the superintendent and board.
The administration's memo says the board and superintendent share responsibility for ensuring that strategic planning occurs and for establishing long-term vision and goals, while the administration would manage stakeholder engagement, information gathering and execution of the process. Legal guidance included in the packet says the Board of Education and superintendent are intended to work together on educational priorities and goals, while development of the strategic-planning process is primarily an operational function.
Board members differed over how many of them should serve directly on the strategic planning steering committee. Some favored four board representatives to provide greater involvement throughout the process, while others said the board's oversight role and periodic reports could provide sufficient participation.
Da Silva said she initially envisioned one or two board members on a steering group of about 14 people, but said the structure could be adjusted to include additional board representatives while maintaining participation from administrators, teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders. No vote was taken on the steering committee's composition.
The district expects the planning process to culminate in Board of Education consideration of a strategic plan in June.
Da Silva also informed the board that Ridgefield Public Schools was monitoring labor negotiations between First Student and its employees because they could affect student transportation. She said the district is not a party to those negotiations because the drivers are employed by First Student.
