School District Needs To Do

Its Share Of Budget Cutting

To the Editor:

This letter has gone to the Legislative Council, Superintendent of Schools, and Board of Education: pat.llodra@newtown-ct.gov, okjt@aol.com, SugrBrk@aol.com, newtownboe@newtown.k12.ct.us.

I will continue to vote against budgets until I feel that the education side recognizes the necessity to participate in the same fiscal responsibility that the town side already does, and that taxpayers are forced into by the economy. I consider various constituencies in the education side — superintendent, board, administration, teachers, parents — responsible for the budget impasse and ongoing acrimony. I call on them to step up, speak out, and acknowledge that times are tight for most everyone, and that they recognize their responsibility to do their share, as part of the townside-educationside-taxpayer team.

The bus company issue is a prime example of the message the education side is sending. I had expected that the change in bus companies was a way to save money, but it appears the education administration really saw it as a way to free up money that they could then use to spend elsewhere. Taxpayers gained nothing, bus operators were big losers, and administrators and teachers were the sole beneficiaries. Then the superintendent and board go on, in the same year, to request an excessive increase in their budget, in the face of declining enrollment, during a bad economy, and object when the Legislative Council does its job to reign in cost.

I specifically call on the superintendent and Board of Education to immediately identify reductions in their proposed budget that will bring it in line with the budgets of the town and of taxpayers.

Jim Greenwood and Sarah Bedichek

10 Elm Drive, Newtown                                                June 27, 2012