No More To Cut

In The School Budget

To the Editor:

I have read the Board of Education’s budget book and have heard the superintendent’s presentation to the Board of Finance, and am really struck by several things. First and foremost is the leanness of this year’s proposed budget. It was lean before the Board of Education made almost $500,000 of cuts. There are no programs to make up for the programs and services that were cut last year. Newtown’s school system is very good, but has a lot of room for improvement, and risks drifting toward mediocrity with budgets like this. Between the cuts already made by the superintendent and the Board of Education, there is nothing left to cut. I fear we are betraying our children.

The proposed education budget increase is mostly due to fixed costs, contractual costs, and costs out of our control. In fact, only one half of one percent of the current requested increase will directly benefit the children. This is supposed to include support for 106 new students projected to enter Newtown’s school system in the coming school year. The increased spending on these fixed costs is important, but we should be increasing the spending that also directly impacts the children. Our school system is supposed to be about them.

I heard several members of the Board of Finance questioning the need to keep class sizes down, and I am left wondering how low our standards are becoming and how much quality we are willing to sacrifice. I have heard nothing about maintaining or advancing the quality of Newtown’s school system.

We have been historically proud of our school system. Our goal should be to continue to improve. It is important to note that Newtown ranks 139th out of 169 towns in Connecticut in per pupil spending. It is a testament to our teachers and administrators that we perform as well as we do. We can’t expect them to continue to perform in the face of budgets that are so dramatically lower than they should be. Our children deserve better.

We as a society owe it to our own generation and to future generations to provide as good of an education as possible. To shirk this responsibility is a violation of a trust we all have as members of this community. Each generation benefits from the investment made by the prior generation. Long after my children are educated, I will see it as my responsibility to help the next generation by continuing to support and to help pay for excellence. As a community, we need to support our children by supporting the budget and thereby ensuring the success of the next generation.

Joan Plouffe

123 Poverty Hollow Road, Newtown                          March 3, 2004