Putting Lipstick

On A Pig

 To the Editor:

I will be voting No again next Thursday. The education budget request as currently presented reflects the full-day kindergarten (FDK) initiative and that’s a good thing for Newtown. Yet, without the additional funding of approximately $200,000, the BOE must decide if it will keep FDK by eliminating programs and resources elsewhere in the district. We have already watched as the Legislative Council cut the BOE’s budget request by $1 million (the most ever) and we’ve come to accept that we will never see even half of that amount restored. So at just $200,000, we should not have to decide between current programs that are valued today and adding an important FDK initiative that even the principals consider worth cuts elsewhere.

I don’t have children that age, but I have always been willing to support whatever the school district and the town has asked of me. A continuously improving school district has a direct impact on Newtown and on our home values as well. We will pay the price of underfunding the education budget ten-fold down the line.

There has been a lot of information coming out by any number of people and officials painting the education budget shortfall as a “non-issue” simply because the administration might be “okay” with the way funds are being reallocated or line items are being reduced. Frankly, what is happening is the education budget is being “fast-tracked” in a race to get to “same services” that leaves much that has yet to be properly vetted. Even the BOE leadership is trying to put lipstick on a pig because the town leadership is pushing them to get school supporters to vote Yes.

I am reminded of the issues at Reed Intermediate that began with one or two minor changes to the schedule in an effort to reduce spending. In time, parents became aware and the ripple effects still continue two years later. How many other “minor” changes to the programs in our schools that parents have not been informed of will lead to the same huge problems that we saw at Reed? Why is there so much support by the BOE for the same spend reduction initiative that the superintendent was reprimanded for suggesting only months ago? Why is it okay to reduce bus aides now, but it was inappropriate earlier in the year?

I sense some people and some BOE members are rushing to Yes rather than defending education and fighting for the funding (even just $200,000) they asked for.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Hill Road, Newtown                                     July 3, 2012