To The Editor:

At Tuesday night’s Legislative Council meeting, the Council approved reductions of just under $500,000 to the municipal budget and $400,000 to the education budget. Most of these votes were broadly bipartisan. In fact, our Republican colleagues supported every municipal reduction that came before us — and even signaled a willingness to make slightly deeper cuts on the municipal side.

The only cuts that the full Council approved that our Republican colleagues opposed were those affecting the schools. The Council considered two possible reductions to the Board of Education budget — first $700,000, then $400,000. In both cases, all three Republican members voted “no,” declining to support any reduction at all. Whatever their preferred level of reduction may have been, their voting record shows that they were unwilling to support the actual adjustments before the Council — leaving the responsibility for trimming the $95.6 million education budget entirely to the Democratic caucus.

Given that the Republican Town Committee actively campaigned against passage of the budget at last week’s referendum, these votes were unexpected. Voters clearly signaled that both town spending and school spending needed to come down, yet our Republican colleagues chose to treat the Board of Ed budget as untouchable.

As we head toward the May 19 referendum, residents should be aware that although the school budget is nearly twice the size of the municipal budget, the Republican caucus declined to support even the smallest reduction, despite both voter feedback and their own party’s push for more. The reductions now on the ballot represent the only path forward that earned broad support — even as the Council's Republican members refused to support any reduction to the schools at all.

The best indication of what any legislator stands for is their voting record. And the voting record from Tuesday night shows that my three Republican colleagues are not willing to countenance any reduction to the Board of Education budget, no matter how small.

Arnie Berman

Legislative Council — District 3

Sandy Hook