Teachers, School Supporters Dominate Budget Hearing

By John Voket

Education advocates had their night Wednesday, telling the Board of Finance in no uncertain terms that Newtown’s schools need to be the top priority for taxpayers in 2009-2010.

Former Legislative Council member Ruby Johnson said it simply and boldly: “Support the Board of Ed budget... but let’s give the selectmen a hard time.”

And current council member Po Murray presented an eight-point list of concerns primarily tied to points in the municipal side of the budget, which represents $38 million in spending to the school board’s $67 million proposal.

One of the more poignant pleas to the finance board to hold the line on further budget cuts came from Tisha McCoy, a Newtown teacher for more than 22 years. She was among a strong contingent of educators who spoke with concerns that further budget cuts would translate to job and programming cuts.

“When you cut my salary, you’re cutting my family’s salary,” Ms McCoy told the finance board.

Newtown High Senior Lauren Newberry said she came to the hearing to work in her capacity as president of the Technology Club, whose members were videotaping the hearing for rebroadcast. But she felt compelled to speak, to let the Board of Finance hear a student’s perspective about the quality of education she and her friends are receiving.

“We have great teachers at the high school,” Ms Newberry said. “I would not want to see them cut, or their pay cut.”

She added that thanks to her teachers, she was accepted to every college to which she applied, but was equally proud of one of her fellow seniors.

“A friend of mine is going to Oxford...yes, that Oxford — in England,” she said to a smatter of applause.

In the hours following the 2009 Board of Finance public budget hearing, board Chair John Kortze was still responding to local taxpayers who opted to express their thoughts more privately.

Mr Kortze said he responded to ten emails, mostly from individuals who either attended the hearing and did not speak publicly, or said they would not attend because they expected Wednesday’s hearing would be dominated by school budget supporters, which turned out to be the case. Eleven of the 13 residents who took the microphone were local teachers, PTA officials, and current or former elected officials who are known to be education supporters.

PTAs Well Represented

Most of the town PTA organizations were represented, and most of the volunteers representing the PTAs said that votes taken among their members at Newtown’s individual schools strongly supported the school district’s budget as approved.

The Board of Education has recommend a budget proposal totaling nearly $67.2 million, representing a 1.74 percent increase over the current operating budget, while the Board of Selectmen recommended a town budget of $38,000,069, which represents a $1.43 million or 3.63 percent decrease from the current year’s municipal operating budget.

Jeanetta Miller, a NHS teacher, told the board, “These are difficult times,” but urged the board “not to assume we are all looking for tax cuts.”

Resident Robert Merola stood alone in requesting the finance board try and find a little more to cut on both the town and school side of the budget proposals, to get the number to a flat-line tax increase. And council member Daniel Amaral called for careful vetting of budget lines to identify where town or school departments are duplicating efforts, and consolidate those jobs to achieve further taxpayer savings.

He cited snow plowing by various town departments, and the use of contractors for projects like painting at Hawley School, instead of having school custodial staff handle the job.

Ms Johnson’s message remained consistent with what she has been saying to numerous other boards and commissions, criticizing spending at Fairfield Hills. She called for additional town spending to support demolition of Greenwich Hall and parking lot construction to be bonded, versus budgeted in a leaseback arrangement with Peter D’Amico, the developer of the nonprofit Newtown Youth Academy.

Ms Johnson also called for the finance board to consider cutting funds budgeted for an outside management company that oversees physical plant operations, grounds maintenance and private security services on the town-owned campus. Instead, Ms Johnson suggested management duties be parsed out to various town agencies like the highway and school buildings departments.

Cost Cutting Ideas

Ms Murray touched on concerns including an already strapped highway department budget for road and bridge projects, and the future of Edmond Town Hall once town offices are relocated to Fairfield Hills this fall. She also asked finance officials to look at furlough days for town workers, instituting a four-day work week, applying Fairfield Hills lease money to offset budget shortfalls, along with echoing Ms Johnson’s points about demolition costs and the future management of Fairfield Hills facilities.

Mr Kortze pointed out that Ms Murray’s concerns should have been directed to selectmen during their budget-setting deliberations. Ms Murray replied that she had been promoting a number of her cost-cutting ideas for some time to other boards.

Following the hearing, Mr Kortze said he was not surprised that most of the speakers, along with a disproportionate number of emails he received, exclusively referred to either protecting or restoring cuts already made to the school budget.

By 8 am Thursday morning, Mr Kortze told The Bee he had responded to ten emails that were delivered since the previous night’s hearing, representing taxpayers who said they felt like they would “be in the minority if they stood up and spoke in favor of further cuts, or a zero-tax-increase budget.”

“One of them I have open in front of me says they were at the hearing, but felt a little overwhelmed by school board supporters,” Mr Kortze said. “That’s not to say I haven’t gotten a lot in support of the budget, but 98 percent of those specifically refer to the school side of the budget.”

Mr Kortze said at the meeting and in the follow-up discussion that it is clear that school and town revenues will be down this year, and “whatever we get [cut] equals the amount in additional taxes we have to raise.”

The finance board will take up deliberations beginning Monday, March 2, which will continue through next week at the high school lecture hall. All finance deliberations begin at 7 pm.

Those hearings are scheduled to be televised on the local cable public access channel, and The Newtown Bee intends to offer selected video files of the meetings on the newspaper’s website.

Go to www.newtownbee.com for audio files of the February 25 public hearing.