Wrangling Over Funds Leads BOE to Open New Accounts

The ongoing battle over Stafford Public Schools' self-insurance fund took an unexpected turn earlier this month when the Board of Finance (BOF) decided to take $700,000 out of the fund to partially repay the General Fund for the $1.2 million the town says it has contributed since 2021. Now, the Board of Education (BOE) is abandoning the town controlled account and opening its own.

At the Monday, June 23, 2025, BOE meeting, the four members of the board who were present (Chair Sara Kelley, Christopher Paradiso, Eileen Bartlett, and Shana Boland) voted to open the district's own account to hold the money for its self-funded insurance plan, which includes employee contributions.

What the BOE did not mention during its meeting was the town's plan to move an additional $50,000 a month from the self-insurance account to the General Fund until the entire $1.2 million is paid back. Interim Superintendent Dr. Laura Norbut said there was a cash balance of $340,565.23 in the old account, and Kelley said she would request that the town leave the account open to continue paying claims. It doesn't take a math teacher to figure out the town won't be able to fully pay itself back even if it emptied the account today and didn't pay a single claim going forward.

"We have to ensure our employees have access to health insurance," said Dr. Norbut.

Kelley said that it is important to protect what employees are contributing to the account.

Earlier this month, Stafford's CFO, Yana Abramovich, told me the self-insurance fund had $360,000 in IBNR Reserve (Incurred But Not Reported) expenses. The number has certainly changed over the past couple of weeks, however, it has been said more than once that summer is the busiest time of year for claims. Teachers who are off for the summer finally get to the doctor or have procedures that they put off during the school year, and claims increase. In fact, at the BOE meeting, they said summer was when the town typically infused cash into the account in the past.

As of now, the school district has more than $600,000 left in the insurance line item for this year. The town was assuming the schools would put that money into the old account to bring the balance back up to healthier levels after the $700,000 was withdrawn. Now that's not happening. Instead of putting the $600,000 into the old account, the BOE voted to put $500,000 into the new account, leaving $100,000 available to balance what's left of the school districts' budget deficit. Once the new appropriation for the 2025-2026 school year is available, the BOE can also move that money into the account.

Kelley said that had the town not taken the $700,000 out of the account , the schools would have been able to reach the $1.4 million balance its insurance consultant suggests is healthy. According to Abramovich, the account had $874,973.96 in it at the time the BOF decision was made.

It's worth noting that the BOE voted to open another bank account, and move more of its funds out from under town control. The board also approved opening its own non-lapsing fund. The current account, which has been under town control, was the recent subject of a Freedom of Information Act request (FOIA). A relatively recent change to state statute made it possible for the BOE to open its own account. As we were all able to see after the data dump pursuant to the FOIA request, the current non-lapsing account has a $0 balance. This account serves as a savings account for the schools, and the district will be starting more or less from scratch.