Don’t Cut The School Budget

Before A Vote

To the Editor:

I am concerned that the Board of Finance will further reduce the proposed school budget for 2004-05 at their upcoming vote. I believe that the citizens of this town deserve the chance to vote in April on the school budget without further cuts.

The loss to our community from last year’s budget process was substantial. We were not able to hire teachers that were needed to comply with our own Board of Education guidelines for class size. As a result, more students were placed in classrooms without the physical space to accommodate them. Including projections for next year, over 500 new students will have entered into our school system in a three-year period. Many of these students are from newly constructed homes that continue to crop up so frequently that I wonder if P&Z has ever considered the issue of where those students will be educated. In fact, at Sandy Hook School where many classrooms were renovated years ago to make two classrooms out of what was originally one, students barely have sufficient space to sit in a circle for group activities. How effective can our teachers be if we allow classes at SHS to increase above 25, especially given the broad range of needs and abilities? Will the continuing inequity in class sizes across our elementary schools cause teachers to file grievances? Shouldn’t “No Child Left Behind” also include “No Child Forgotten Due to Overcrowding”?

At our blue ribbon-earning high school, administrators and teachers face challenges as they carry caseloads far higher than equivalent schools in the area and face untold obstacles brought about by overcrowding. Will NHS be a recipient of that blue ribbon again when it is reviewed in two years?

Is this what makes us proud? Is this why the majority of property values in Newtown have appreciated? I think not. How we will continue to compete with other nations that are stronger than the United States in science and math if we do not even support these things in our own backyard? Shame on those that want to “pull up the ladder” on Newtown’s youth now that their own children are educated. Double shame on those that vote down referendums merely out of habit without learning the details. And triple shame on those not bothering to vote at all. We are a community, and membership in a community comes with gifts and responsibilities.

No citizen wants careless tax increases yet we must realize that in this day and age we do get only what we pay for, and nothing else. Let this be a call to action. We must advocate for our town and our children by attending town committee meetings of our elected officials and holding them accountable in processes that most find uninviting. This is the foundation of our town and democracy. It is unacceptable to do anything less.

Respectfully submitted,

Sarah M. Beier

7 Yogananda Street, Sandy Hook                                 March 3, 2004