To the Editor:

If you care about the future of Newtown children, if you care about the quality of the town you live in, if you care about your property values, you will not only get out and vote in the referendum next Tuesday, April 23, but you will vote Yes to both the Municipal and Board of Education (BOE) budgets.

The BOE budget has not only been approved by our Legislative Council but has bipartisan support from our Board of Finance (BOF). In fact, the original requested budget has been carefully reviewed with line-item cuts already made by the BOF. Any further cuts would not only jeopardize our students but the quality of living for all of us in Newtown as real estate values plummet.

Newtown schools have consistently ranked in the top 10% in the state. Further cuts could very well destroy this stellar ranking. Do you want us to fall behind other towns in CT? Do you want class sizes to get larger? Do you want to reject investments in new reading programs for K-8 and the proposed Kindergarten Readiness Program that will help our children succeed?

Towns all over CT are dealing with higher budgets this year and passing them. Let’s not be the one town that gets left behind, that has residents leaving because the schools are just not measuring up anymore and that consequently has property values plummeting. Vote YES next Tuesday and pass both the Municipal Budget and this carefully vetted BOE Budget.

Sue Kassirer

Sandy Hook