Newtown At The Crossroad

To the Editor:

The Town of Newtown is at a crossroad.  While we strive to keep our taxes down we also strive to maintain the quality of our town and school system.

There have been two failed referenda this year each resulting in reductions to the proposed budget. Even if it passes on this third referendum, the Board of Education will need to make adjustments to the tune of $859,945. This will be a difficult task given that we must provide the resources for 98 more students next year.

In addition, this month we received our accreditation report for Newtown High School from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). Although we knew of NEASC’s concerns regarding the overcrowding and lack of resources at the high school, we were nevertheless disheartened to learn that the school was placed on warning status. As the report states, the commission is concerned “regarding the inadequate and inconsistent level of funding to provide and maintain the school’s programs and services, staffing levels, technology, facilities, space and equipment.” The school will not be removed from warning status until specified problems have been resolved. If the school fails to make significant progress to resolve identified problems, the school may be placed on probation.

The Board of Education’s budget includes $652,073 for the high school to hire teachers and noncertified support staff, purchase computers, and lease a modular classroom unit to accommodate the increased enrollment and begin to address the concerns cited in the NEASC report.

Three years ago, after three referenda, the approved school budget was approximately $1.4 million less than what the Board of Education had requested. As a result, class sizes increased, the Gifted & Talented program was eliminated, school buses changed from a four tier to three tier system, the fourth grade orchestra was eliminated, fees were charged for student activities, fees to participate in sports increased from $50 to up to $200 per sport, maintenance projects were deferred, the high school swimming pool was closed for part of the year, and building use fees were increased.

A third failed referendum will most likely result in the same level of reductions in dollars as three years ago.

Given that we must address our increased enrollment needs and begin to provide the resources to prevent our high school from being placed on probation, the Board of Education will face a difficult challenge in addressing the $859,945 in adjustments to the original proposed budget. Maintaining appropriate class size is in jeopardy as will be some existing programs.

Our own analysis reflects that a 4.7 percent increase is needed for fixed costs and an additional 2.05 percent increase is needed to address increased enrollment. That’s 6.75 percent for status quo, yet the education budget being voted on this Tuesday is at 6.06 percent, the lowest increase in eight years. This mill rate increase will be 4.6 percent. Newtown is at a crossroad. Let’s cross to the right side. Vote Yes on Tuesday.

Sincerely,

Dr Evan Pitkoff

Superintendent of Schools

31 Peck’s Lane, Newtown                                        May 24, 2006