Getting The Budget Right

To the Editor:

Everyone who considers moving to a new town asks immediately about the quality of the schools in the district.

Last night, as parents, we attended the eighth grade moving up ceremony. It was an amazing evening listening to the speakers, both adults and the students themselves. It was a joy to hear about the students who received awards and their accomplishments. Newtown has much to be proud of!

There are 427 students in this year’s eighth grade class. Of them, 75 earned the President’s Achievement Award. To be awarded this honor, a student must maintain a 95 percent or higher average for all of seventh grade and the first three quarters of eighth grade.

Their achievements reflects greatly on the students themselves for their personal hard work; their parents who support them and their teachers’ dedication to our young people’s learning.

Let us not forget, however, it is the years from kindergarten through sixth grade that gave them the solid foundation to do well in middle school. It is known that a house without a good foundation cannot stand. Imagine building a house on a bed of sand, or with rubber support beams. If you built such a house you shouldn’t be surprised by huge cracks in the walls, wildly uneven flooring, or even total collapse of the structure. The early years of education are that foundation of knowledge, reason, and future excellence.

Since we moved to Newtown in 2005, it seems that each year there is a constant fight to keep the financial support our schools need. Every year, there is a “cut back” or a compromise with the promise to “do better” next year. Sadly, that promise never comes to fruition.

Each year there is a financial “tug-of-war” with those who do not want to support education because it means a higher tax, regardless of how small.

School subsistence has been cut to the bones with “no more meat” to cut without degrading the quality of education. This must stop. We must take a strong stand to ensure that the quality of education is not further eroded.

If we do not support our schools, the future of our town, our state and our country will be as a house standing on sand and with rubber beams.

No one wants a fourth budget failure. However, I believe that if we do not find a way to at the very least ensure “same services” for our young people next year, the budget will fail again!

We have much to be proud of with our school district and town as a whole. Let’s preserve and support the good work being done to educate the future small business owners, accountants, teachers, plumbers, carpenters etc. And let’s not forget, one of these students may be your future doctor — you will want him or her to have the best education to care for you in the years to come — right?

Donna Monteleone Randle

4 Erin Lane, Sandy Hook                                                 June 20, 2012