To The Editor:

I've been knocking on a lot of doors to find out what matters to Newtown, and more than anything, I hear about property taxes. There's a reason for the unsustainable increase, and it's not just local spending.

Connecticut funds public schools through a formula called Education Cost Sharing, meant to split the cost between the state and local towns. The state hasn't raised its base per-pupil funding in 13 years, while the actual cost of running our schools keeps rising, driven by the same things affecting your family budget — healthcare premiums and energy costs. When the state's share stays frozen, the difference lands on Newtown's property tax bill.

This isn't theoretical. If you've sat through Newtown budget hearings, as I have for years, you've watched this play out in real numbers.

It's also worth asking about a claim you'll hear from my opponent, Mitch Bolinsky: that he's never voted to raise your taxes. That sounds like fiscal discipline, but holding the line on state taxes doesn't make the cost of educating our kids disappear. It shifts that cost onto our local boards, who have no real choice but to cut services or raise your property tax bill instead.

He says he recognizes the problem. The question is what results he's delivered. Newtown needs more than acknowledgment — we need effective advocacy that produces a fairer funding formula and real property-tax relief.

I understand where the pressure on your tax bill comes from, and I will bring that experience to Hartford to fight for an updated funding formula, so Newtown isn't left holding the bag for costs the state should be sharing.

Newtown deserves a representative who treats this as urgent, because it is.

On November 3, I'm asking for your vote.

Michelle Embree Ku

Newtown