Let Your Voice

Be Heard

To the Editor:

The Independent Party of Newtown encourages all voters to support the high school expansion project and the operating budget on April 22.

Your support of the high school expansion project will finally address the most critical educational and community need our town has ever faced. This project will cost the town, after state reimbursement, $29.3 million (which includes the $2.75 million architectural phase). It will be money well spent, for it will have an enormously positive and long-term impact on the reputation of our town, the stability of our property values, and the education of our children.

The high school overcrowding issue has, for the last two-and-one-half years, dominated town discussions and limited our ability to focus on the many issues facing Newtown. Passage of the high school expansion project and the proposed budget on the first vote will enable us, as a town, to begin to devote our energy to finding creative long-term solutions to meet the needs of the entire community without overtaxing our existing resources.

But we must have a strong showing at this referendum for successful passage. Last year, the first attempt to pass the operating budget failed by just 75 votes. Only 22 percent of the registered voters participated in the first referendum. A repeat of that kind of lackluster attendance will not bode well for passage of the high school expansion and the budget on the first vote.

The Legislative Council has historically interpreted defeat as a mandate to make wholesale reductions to both the town and school budgets without using any objective criteria to justify those cuts. Last year, in fact, although the construction of the new town hall was a significant factor that led to multiple budget defeats, the council made no attempt to address the obvious concerns of the voters and made drastic cuts to both the town and school budgets.

More importantly, a defeat of the budget could embolden some elected officials to reduce funding for the high school expansion, which could effectively derail the project for up to two years. This would be a tragedy for our seventh graders, our largest class and the first scheduled to begin its studies in the new high school, and maybe even our younger students, who may see their educational opportunities limited by a grossly overcrowded or unfinished facility.

If you believe in the critical need for the high school expansion and do not want to see additional arbitrary cuts in educational or town services, then let your voice be heard on April 22 and help us get out the vote by contacting your friends, neighbors and, acquaintances to vote as well (6 am to 8 pm at the Newtown Middle School).

Every vote counts.

Robert Murray

Chairman

Independent Party of Newtown

19 Farm Meadow Road, Newtown                                April 16, 2008