Cuts Only Happen

When Enough People Vote Yes

To the Editor:

The push is on by the Board of Education and the PTAs to convince school parents to approve the upcoming budget even though it includes pink slips for teachers, elimination of school programs, and the likelihood of increased class sizes. This push by the Board of Education and the PTAs to approve a bad education budget isn’t because they like this budget, because they don’t. In fact, if it passes, this will be one of the worst budgets for education in recent memory. But the Board of Education and the PTAs know that every year, town leaders count on the threat of further cuts to education as the driving force behind getting thousands of school parents to reluctantly support the budget. And if this budget is bad for education, imagine what further cuts will do!

However, I am disappointed that the Board of Education and the PTAs, normally virtuous leaders in the fight for education, have signed on to the town’s fear campaign rather than seriously consider alternatives that would restore the necessary funding. In a recent communication to school parents, the PTAs provided misleading information giving parents the impression that they have no alternative but to support the budget. Missing from the letter was any attempt to educate parents about how the budget approval process does provide the Legislative Council with the authority to restore funds if the council believes that the budget will never pass unless additional funding is restored.

There was no mention in the letter that this budget includes only one-tenth of the 4.14 percent increase that the Board of Education chair said was needed just to support the status quo. There was no mention that the budget the PTA presidents were asking parents to support already includes layoffs for many teachers and cuts in school programs. There was no reference to the recent statement “Our finger is in the dike” by the schools superintendent suggesting the education program in Newtown is like a dam at risk of bursting.

I admire and respect the work of each individual member of the Board of Education and PTA and so my concern is not of a personal nature. They care as I do about Newtown and about our children’s education and they have invested a lot of time and energy trying to make lemonade out of lemons. But these organizations have forgotten that they represent or share the same interests as an overwhelming majority of likely budget voters. Instead of organizing those voters in defense of our ailing school system, they have ceded control of the budget approval process to the town leaders and are now manipulating parents to do the same thing. And it’s only because they are afraid to vote No. Yet, cuts can only happen when enough people decide to vote Yes.

Kevin Fitzgerald

24 Old Farm Road, Newtown                                         April 15, 2009