The Blame Game Will Continue

To the Editor:

A third Newtown budget proposal has been rejected. The fear grenades have been thrown. Prior to the June 5 vote, The Bee wrote that Newtown’s credit rating may be cut due to the continual budget rejections yet that hasn’t happened in past years. Mary Ann Jacob has stated that school funds will not be restored after the rejection of this budget and she was a former Newtown PTA president! Debbie Leidlein, the chairperson of the Board of Education, wrote in last week’s Bee that any further school budget reductions “will impact education programs severely.” I believe our Newtown school system has already been negatively impacted by the actions of these politicians.

The blame game began after the first budget was rejected. After the first budget rejection, the Legislative Council did its best to blame our school superintendent and school finance director. Obviously, the Newtown electorate has not accepted that explanation. I’m sure at the June 6 Legislative Council meeting, the blame game will continue. To place blame, our Legislative Council will look everywhere but at themselves.

The amount of misinformation presented by our elected officials is amazing. The e-mail from Ms Fetchick and Ms Jacob describes how the school budget has never been reduced. What they don’t mention is that this will be the third school budget where school expenditures will not keep up with the rate of inflation. Politicians tell us that since enrollment is going down, our budget should also go down. Not one politician mentions that from 2000 to 2005 Newtown added 552 students, without hiring any additional staff. Not one politician mentions that if we add full-day kindergarten we will need approximately 16 added full-time teachers. Not one politician has mentioned that due to increased state education standards (NEASC and CCS) we will need added teachers.

Who really is to blame for this yearly budget debacle? We are to blame. As long as those who support our schools remain away from the polls, the school budget cuts will continue. We will be in this same position every year as long as we continue to elect people who don’t support our schools. We will slowly watch the deterioration of our Newtown schools, one budget cut at a time. Restore the funds to our school budget and those of us who support our schools will vote Yes. We need to elect Newtown citizens who support our schools.

Charles Hepp

4 Winter Ridge Road, Sandy Hook                                  June 6, 2012