Music And Millions On The Minds Of Public Hearing Speakers

By John Voket

Several dozen people attending the Legislative Council’s public hearing on the proposed 2009 municipal budget got a little music in between calls by parents, teachers and education officials to restore cuts the Board of Finance made to the school side of the spending plan earlier this month. Council representatives also heard numerous calls to reject putting advisory questions on the budget ballot, which would attempt to define the reasoning behind taxpayers’ decisions in the voting booth.

The council was scheduled to take up deliberations on the 2009 budget after the print edition of The Bee went to press March 26. (See updates from that meeting, and hear the audio transcripts at newtownbee.com.)

During Wednesday’s hearing, School Business Manager and Newtown resident Ron Bienkowski stood before the council emphasizing that the 2009 budget proposal will still tax more, even though the current bottom line, which could still be modified up or down by the council, is providing taxpayers with less spending.

“In fact, it is approximately a $2 million reduction, or a 1.85 percent decrease [in spending] from the current year,” he said.

Reading from a prepared statement, Mr Bienkowski pointed out the council will not be considering an 0.8 percent increase in spending requests, but a recommendation that left unchanged would bring a 0.8 percent increase in taxes.

Mr Bienkowski also took the council to task for the lack of information in its public notice advertising the hearing.

“There is no notation of the fact that this proposal is $1,947,750, or close to two percent less than the current year,” he said. The district business manager added that the Board of Education recommendation was cut to a 0.23 percent increase, or $150,551 over the current year’s approved spending.

“We are not happy with this and certainly do not want it to be reduced further because it simply isn’t necessary,” Mr Bienkowski said.

Near the midpoint in the hearing, which was uncharacteristically scheduled in the dinner hour, beginning at 5:15 pm, council members and the public in attendance received some facts about music’s positive contribution to students’ cultural and academic enhancement, along with two interludes that featured brief piano and oboe recitals.

Sasha Henriques and Evelyn Fahey, both Newtown High School sophomores, performed brief pieces to illustrate how far they have come musically in the public school music program, while Jennifer Callary and Cara Smith discussed other important benefits resulting from their music education, and their concerns about the future of those programs in Newtown schools.

“There’s a sign in one of our practice rooms that says, ‘Music is a language everyone can speak,’” Ms Callary said, adding that she would not want to see her two younger siblings’ music programs cut because of shortfalls in the proposed school budget.

Ms Smith told council members that according to a study, high school music students hold higher grade point averages than nonmusic students, and that music programs have been known to transform academic underachievers into students who consistently receive higher grades.

“Getting rid of a music contact time will have a detrimental to the entire community,” Ms Smith said.

A few moments later, Mardie Smith, Cara Smith’s mother and a 13-year Newtown teacher, came to the microphone saying how she has observed the slow reduction or cutting of extracurricular and cultural programming.

Mardie Smith then requested the council consider returning money to the budget from a so-called “rainy day fund.”

“If this is not a rainy day, I don’t know what is,” she said.

After announcing her imminent departure to help her daughter in England with a newborn grandchild, school board Chair Elaine McClure detailed the history of cuts already made to bring the school district budget proposal to 1.74 percent, which preceded the finance board cuts.

“I’ll start right off; I am advocating a Yes vote when we get to the polls, but I would love to see money put back from the $1 million cut,” Ms McClure said. “Next year’s education will not look like this year’s after the $1 million cut.”

The school board chair was joined a few moments later by Superintendent Janet Robinson, speaking out against providing advisory questions on the 2009 budget ballot.

Dr Robinson said she has experience with other communities where advisory questions have been issued, and she said such questions make it difficult to truly determine why certain voters have rejected a budget proposal versus endorsing it.

“You can’t collect data to determine who voted No,” Dr Robinson said.

(Listen to the full audio transcript of the 2009 Legislative Council’s Public Budget Hearing at newtownbee.com.)