Following a rejection of the school budget by 507 votes at a referendum on April 23, the Legislative Council at its April 29 meeting slashed $1,408,307 from the Board of Education’s proposed 2024-25 budget.

The reduction was unanimously approved by all 12 councilmen, in contrast to a previous, pre-referendum meeting on March 27, where no bottom line for the school budget drew more than a simple majority of seven votes.

The new bottom line of $87,409,066 is a $2,339,415 or 2.75% spending increase over the 2023-24 budget, which places it in line with the municipal budget, which was passed by voters. The previous proposed 2024-25 BOE budget rejected by voters was $88,817,373, which would have been a $3,747,722 or 4.4% spending increase.

With the approval of the $48,834,506 municipal budget, if the new proposed school budget is passed, the mill rate will increase from 26.24 to 26.97 mills, a 2.77% tax increase. The previous proposal would have increased the mill rate from 27.24, a 1 mill or 3.82% tax increase.

The next budget referendum will be on Tuesday, May 14.

Regarding the $1.4 million cut, Democrat Chris Gardner, who made the motion, said it was one he was “not happy to make” but that the council had to address how the vote had turned out.

“The people who voted, voted overwhelmingly to cut this budget, it was a three-to-one vote to cut the budget,” said Gardner.

Gardner acknowledged a large amount of people in attendance at the meeting, but said that the support didn’t come prior to the budget vote and that councilmen had to react to the votes that were cast.

Gardner urged the residents in attendance who spoke in favor of the school budget to go out and vote at the next referendum.

Republican Derek Pisani, who seconded the motion, said the council had received “direct feedback about the affordability” of the budget.

“Even the town, which had a modest increase and had cut some items, barely passed,” said Pisani. “The voters indicated this is a challenging time that some residents are not finding affordable.”

There are currently 400 Newtown families who are delinquent on their homeowner tax bills, and another 100 who rely on the town’s food pantry.

“Affordability is not partisan or political; it’s a complicated balance,” said Pisani.

The education budget failed, 1,701 “no” votes to 1,194 “yes” votes.

On the secondary question to the education budget — If the proposed sum for the Board of Education is not approved, should the revised budget be higher? — the responses were 727 “yes” and 2,071 “no.”

The town budget narrowly passed, 1,465 “yes” votes to 1,424 “no” votes, so the town’s budget of $48,834,506, a $1,308,366 or 2.75 percent spending increase, is official.

The Registrar of Voters reports 15.1% of Newtown’s registered voters participated in the April 23 referendum, with 2,952 people showing up at Newtown Middle School to vote and another 47 turning in absentee ballots.

In 2023, Newtown saw increased participation at its April budget vote with a turnout of approximately 8.8 percent, the first year of increased participation after years of waning participation, especially following the COVID pandemic. In 2022, participation was only 7.7 percent; in 2021, the turnout was 8.98 percent; in 2020, there was no budget referendum due to the pandemic; in 2019, turnout was 17 percent; in 2018, turnout was 15.7 percent; and in 2017, turnout was 19.9 percent.

Democrat Heather Dean said it was an “extremely difficult decision to support a cut of this size.”

“I know the other councilmen believe in the school system, believe in the schools, and support education,” said Dean. “Unfortunately, the vote did not come out that way. We can’t ignore the votes that came in, or didn’t come in.”

Legislative Council Chairman Keith Alexander said that he had “zero interest” in cutting the education budget, and having read the budget, it “underscores that it’s very difficult to run the entire school system” and he felt “people were making decisions without full knowledge of the budget.” He said he would prefer to make smaller cuts and see if those pass; however, since the town was on a tight time line, that was not possible.

“As much as it pains me, this is the number that works,” said Alexander.

Former BOE chairman Deborra Zukowski, speaking during public participation, said tears were in her eyes when she heard the motion.

“I know we all support the schools, but I understand where this comes from,” said Zukowski. “The town only passed by 41 votes. It’s a hard time to be in your seats.”

Earlier in the meeting, when asked where cuts could potentially come from, Superintendent Chris Melillo said that the schools potentially had a $500,000 surplus that he would use to cover some one-time costs such as buying textbooks and a grade six to eight reading program.

For roughly another $500,000, the schools are considering not hiring a Board Certified Behavioral Analyst the district was looking to hire; removing additions to summer school; cutting a teacher from the high school, possibly by not hiring the position of a retiring teacher; eliminating a teaching position that the schools were looking to add, eliminating a kindergarten through sixth grade Spanish program with four full-time position equivalents attached; consolidating some secretarial positions, eliminating some platforms for assessing students, and removing a kindergarten readiness program. The possibilities for cuts for the remaining $400,000 have yet to be identified. Melillo cautioned councilmen that due to timing, none of the proposed cuts had been presented or approved by the Board of Education, so the final cuts may look different.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.