Who Loses?

To the Editor:

Those with the most to lose in the third referendum are those who do not have the right to vote, the children. They trust us to do what is best for them. One of the simplest things you can do for them is vote on Tuesday to support our schools. If your own children are not in school, it is still the children of your community that need your support.

Now the facts. Budget cuts to date: the Superintendent cut requests by $1,700,000, the Board of Education reduced the superintendent’s proposed budget by almost $600,000, the Board of Finance cut the budget by $250,000 and the Legislative Council reduced by $176,000 (to offset insurance savings). When the budget was defeated by 53 votes, the council cut $195,000. After the second referendum, they cut an additional $414,000. This already adds up to over $3 million.

A 6.75 percent school budget increase would have been necessary to just keep the schools at status quo. How can this be? Unfortunately, our town keeps growing, 98 new students are projected for next year. Add to this the skyrocketing cost of energy, benefits and insurance. Unfortunately, these are not things that can be eliminated.  It adds up — 4.7 percent increase for fixed cost increases and 2.05 percent due to population growth.

For this referendum, the education budget increase is substantially less than what is needed to maintain status quo: 6.06 percent (the lowest percent increase in eight years). Yes, this means that the children will lose. What exactly, we don’t know until the budget passes and the Board of Education meets. However, three years ago when the budget failed twice the following occurred: class sizes increased beyond Board of Ed guidelines, the Gifted and Talented program was compromised, busing and start-times were changed causing many issues, fourth grade orchestra was eliminated, fees for activities and sports increased, operational and maintenance projects were delayed and the high school pool was closed for part of the year.

This year, our schools have an objective source telling us that we need to invest in places that have been neglected. The New England Association of Schools and Colleges put Newtown High School on warning. Inadequate staffing, technology, equipment, and facilities are part of the problem and the district is expected to begin addressing these issues and show progress by January. An estimated $652,000 is needed to begin to address these issues in the coming school year. If this budget fails, the school board will not likely be able to address these issues or could be forced to make severe cuts in other areas (in order to be able to address the NEASC warning.)

Even if the budget passes this time, the children will be affected by the cuts. If it fails, the impact on students will worsen.

The mill increase associated with the total budget will be 4.6 percent. Please vote Yes to support our children and town on Tuesday, May 30, 6 am to 8 pm at the Middle School.

Michele Hankin

48 Mount Pleasant Road, Newtown                            May 24, 2006