Education Is The Answer

To the Editor:

I’d like to thank The Bee for giving Newtown’s citizenry a place to air their thoughts and opinions on the topic of our town, but most importantly our budget in these critical times. I truly believe that we do need a place on our ballots in order to let our thoughts be known.

I am voting Yes this time and for two very simple reasons. These are complicated times, I know. However... my property value has plummeted during these uncertain times. I know that my tax expense with a Yes vote will cost me an extra $10 a month. I am willing to pay this amount in order to maintain the perception that Newtown is a pro-education town. Education and property value are tied to each other for sure.

Bethel, Brookfield, Monroe, and Southbury have all passed their budgets. Avon, a comparable economic town, has not only passed it, but increased the education budget in order to restore all the cuts that have been made by their finance board over the past ten years. For anyone that feels they want to save in tax expenses, I certainly understand, believe me. But, let’s not cut off our noses to spite our faces. We’ve got to think about everything we do.

Secondly, and most importantly to me, I am voting Yes for the future of our students. My own kids are no longer students in the classrooms here. They are students of the real world...but boy are they well-prepared! My Yes vote is not only a thank you to all the teachers that have served my own kids well, it’s a Yes vote for our future...for the kids that will live on as citizens in a world that is changing each day. These kids are the future of Newtown, the US, and even the global world. They have a mighty task ahead of them especially if we hope to compete in this world.

My Irish father taught me well... Education is the answer to all we are and all that we hope to be!

However the vote ends up, I remain proud to live in such a wonderful town, where an abundance of opinions only makes us stronger in the end.

Very truly yours,

Gael S. Lynch

72 Mile Hill Road South, Newtown                                 June 2, 2010