Vote On The School Budget By Itself

To the Editor:

It’s time for the Town of Newtown to split the budget. What is the purpose of having a Board of Education if their recommendations are going to be ignored by the Board of Finance? Maybe it’s time to let the taxpayers vote on the education budget, as submitted by the Board of Education budget by itself. If the voters reject the budget, so be it. I think the voters in this town are smart enough to decide for themselves. As a voter, I now have no say in the matter. If a reduced Board of Education budget is rejected at the polls it will be reduced again even if the No vote was because the amount is deemed insufficient. Let the Board of Finance make a recommendation to the voters whether they agree with the budget or not.

Reducing the Board of Education budget by $2.5 million may be shortsighted. I don’t personally know every educator in this town, but I have interacted with enough to understand how fortunate we are to have the ones we do. The parents of the students in this school system need to remind everyone of this.

Unfortunately it appears there are those in this town who think we “overbuilt” the new high school addition. And if it’s built to hold 2,000 students then by God there better be at least 1,999 students in it. Could this be viewed as a positive perhaps? That there might in fact be a little extra room in the school. Good for us. And let’s give it some time before we “mothball” an elementary school. The projections that were made on student population were based on unsubstantial growth rates. Let’s not make the same mistakes in assuming no growth in Newtown for the next ten years. Both views are incorrect.

Mark Mockovak

3 Nelson Lane, Newtown                                                March 9, 2010