Newtown PTAs Call For Support Of Budget Proposal

By John Voket

Calling for PTA leaders to rally the troops and get the proposal passed on the first round, Chairman Will Rodgers closed out Wednesday evening’s final Legislative Council budget session after hearing from numerous school supporters. Much of the input offered during public comments reflected solidarity among the local PTAs.

In person and in writing, that consortium of local PTAs uniformly endorsed the proposed 2007-2008 education budget as it was submitted to the Legislative Council by the Board of Finance. That proposal would effect an increase of more than $4.5 million, which is the lowest increase proposed by the school district in recent years.

The total proposed school budget stood at $64,183,158 before deliberations among council members resulted in a vote to pass the proposal on for taxpayer consideration Wednesday evening. During that meeting, the town-side proposal of $38,049,719 was also approved as part of the action.

As a result of the council’s 7-5 vote in favor of moving the package on to referendum as submitted, the final proposed budget of $102,232,877 will go before voters Tuesday, April 24.

On Monday, PTA leaders met at The Newtown Bee to both personally advocate for the final school proposal, and to deliver written statements of support from representatives who could not appear in person.

Richard Gains, representing Hawley School, Mary Ann Jacob, representing Sandy Hook School, Kimberly Mather, representing Reed Intermediate School, and Joan Piscitelli, representing the high school, presented statements from Amy Schmidt, president of the Head O’ Meadow School PTA and Desiree Galassi, president of the Middle Gate PTA. While the Newtown Middle School PTA was not represented, Ms Jacob said that PTA also supported carrying the budget proposal through, as presented, to the voters at referendum.

The representatives on hand were adamant about their call to all qualified voters to turn out on April 24 to cast their ballots, or to obtain absentee ballots in advance of the referendum. (See related story.)

Referring to voting trends developed after last year’s budget failed twice, the PTA representatives put particular focus on encouraging men in local households to make plans to cast a vote well in advance of April 24, so they could access an absentee ballot and return it in the event work responsibilities would keep them from voting in person.

Only 22.6 percent of qualified voters came out to the first 2006 budget referendum, and that proposal was defeated by 53 votes. By the third referendum, the turnout increased to 33 percent.

Ms Jacob pointed out, however, that deeper analysis of the voting records revealed that only 1,502 of the eligible 7,702 male voters in the community turned out for the first 2006 referendum, increasing to 1,952 by the second vote.

Of the 8,471 eligible female voters in Newtown, 1,933 voted on the first budget referendum, increasing to 2,539 by the second referendum, Ms Jacob’s data showed.

“The budget vote seems to be way below the radar for most busy people,” Ms Jacobs said. “So plans need to be made in advance. People who suspect they won’t make it to the polls must go out and get an absentee ballot now.”

The PTA representatives also wanted to counter misinformation circulating in the community that voting down the budget would impact plans to build a new municipal office facility at Fairfield Hills. As recently as today’s edition of The Bee, a letter from resident Ruby Johnson suggests that school supporters face a dilemma. 

“If they vote Yes for the budget, they are also approving money for a new town hall at FFH,” Ms Johnson writes. “If they vote No, they can expect the school budget to be cut with no assurance that the selectmen will abandon their push for a new town hall.”

But the PTO representatives this week insisted that a No vote would not stop or prevent the municipal offices from being developed.

“Voting No will not stop the town hall,” Ms Jacob said. First Selectman Herb Rosenthal concurred.

“This budget passing or failing will have no bearing on the municipal office project,” the first selectman confirmed. “The funds to design and build the facility were already authorized and are available.”

He added that a small amount in a proposed bonding package was earmarked for “finishing aspects,” of the facility only.

In addition, Ms Jacob said, the current budget proposal has no bearing on the proposed high school expansion project. She said the motivation of the PTA leaders was to help simplify the facts relating to the $102 million-plus proposal.

“We want to relate a Yes vote to what it will actually do to a person’s taxes,” she said. In a follow-up interview, Ms Jacob referenced public comments made at a recent hearing where at least one resident stated they would vote down the budget until it was an amount they could afford.

“But what is that figure?” she asked. After working with town Finance Director Benjamin Spragg, Ms Jacob determined that a $1 million cut to the budget would equate to about $5 per month in property taxes to a resident whose home is valued at $300,000.

“I’m not presuming that $5 per month is insignificant, but someone who wants to see a $500 cut in their personal property tax bill must realize that could only happen by reducing the overall proposal by tens of millions of dollars,” Ms Jacob said.

Besides the unanimous endorsement of the school side of the budget as proposed, Ms Galassi wrote that further cuts could impact Middle Gate School’s critical Macintosh to PC computer conversion, or possibly affect the hiring of a new special education teacher.

“Currently, our teachers are experiencing difficulty downloading curriculum material from the Mac system,” she wrote. “Likewise, our needs for a full-time special education teacher have grown.”

In her letter of endorsement, Ms Schmidt reminded PTA members that the Board of Education is charged with making line item cuts after any final reductions are affected through the referendum.

“Given the already lean nature of the current proposed budget, further cuts would likely impact programs and services such as class size and transportation.”