Stand Up For Education

To the Editor:

To focus on the Board of Education’s portion of the budget is a natural thing for us to do given the large amount of budget dollars associated with it. However, we must keep in mind that there are many ways each of us benefits from other programs as well.

Our seniors get support from the town through the Commission on Aging, library, police, fire, and emergency management to name a few. Our families and young people benefit from these things as well as Family Counseling Center, Children’s Adventure Center, and Social Services. We all benefit from things like canine control, highway and land use, as well as the parks and recreation our town is so proud of.

While the Board of Education’s portion of the budget is proposed to use 65.4 percent of our budget dollars, it is interesting to note that once you remove the salary expense from that number, you are left $10 million. That is the amount of money the individual schools truly control and is needed to support the education of our young people. It is also noteworthy to see that the revenue produced by the Board of Education is up 3.2 percent over last year, the Board of Selectmen’s Revenue has dropped 3.7 percent from last year. Clearly the school system is working hard to recoup all available dollars to supplement their budget.

Monday evening the Board of Finance voted to reduce the proposed Board of Education Budget by $400,000. It’s entirely possible the Legislative Council could choose to take more funds. These cuts will have significant impact on the education we deliver to our children. Let your voice be heard now. As you’ve read in recent Bee articles, sometimes just standing up at a meeting to show your support is enough if you’re not comfortable speaking out at a town meeting.

Sincerely,

Mary Ann Jacob

65 Mohawk Trail, Sandy Hook                                  March 14, 2005