Nanopolitics

Five years ago, retired materials engineer and Newtown resident Oscar Berendsohn proposed one of the more intriguing and visionary suggestions for the future use of Fairfield Hills when he urged town leaders to develop a nanotechnology center on the town-owned campus. As you can see at Fairfield Hills today, the idea went nowhere. But this year, it appears the town has ventured wholeheartedly into a related field: nanopolitics.

The great tug-of-war over the 2010-2011 budget has resulted in two referendum defeats for budget proposals as well as significant shifts in blocs of voters favoring or opposing the specific budget proposals. The Bee’s referendum surveys showed, for example, that education supporters voted in greater numbers in favor of a $104.5 million budget on April 27 and against a $104.2 million budget on May 18. When a $104.3 million budget goes before voters on June 8, some of these same school supporters are urging approval. So there has been significant political movement this budget season over infinitesimally small calibrations in Newtown’s spending plan.

The most recent change by the Legislative Council — a $200,000 addition to the school district’s budget — left one of the council’s most ardent school supporters, Gary Davis, smiling and giving two thumbs up to his council ally Kevin Fitzgerald. That moment of victory represented an increase of less than two-tenths of one percent in the overall budget and less than three-tenths of one percent of the school budget. Even though Newtown voters will have voted three times on essentially the same budget, school advocates are more confident and united in their view that this time around the budget plan is worthy of support and will pass.

We understand, however, that the four teachers that $200,000 increase represents are not inconsequential, especially to the students whose classroom experience benefits as a result. But Newtown, along with every other municipality in the state struggling to finance adequate schools, can expect to continue to savor only nanovictories and eke out only nanoresults for their efforts until the state gets serious about education reform.

The school reform bill passed this year by our Democratic legislature and just signed by our Republican governor promises $195 million in federal “Race to the Top” funds over four years. This money will help prop up the state’s rickety Education Cost Sharing (ECS) program just as $271 million in federal stabilization funds it now depends on are expected to run out. Even with the new money filtering down through the state from the feds, the ECS program is expected to continue to shortchange municipalities — especially towns with wealth demographics like Newtown’s. This week, James J. Finley, Jr, CEO and executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, estimated that even with new “Race to the Top” grants, the state will leave towns and cities with nearly $250 million per year in additional costs through unfunded mandates and grant shortfalls. The backdrop for all the self-congratulations in Hartford over school reform is a projected $3.5 billion state deficit for 2011-2012. It looks like another nanovictory for local education.

It is easy enough to say that we need to elect local officials and state representatives who are committed to a significant overhaul of the school funding apparatus in Connecticut, but the commitment of a politician, no matter how sincere, is no match for a stalled economy, which determines in very absolute terms just how much money there is for any purpose, no matter how worthy. The head of Connecticut’s Center for Economic Analysis, UConn economist Fred V. Carstensen, told the Connecticut Mirror last month, “None of us think Connecticut is going to have a robust recovery and there are some real questions about whether we can sustain what we have now.”

With a prognosis like that, $200,000 for four teachers looks like a bonanza, and we urge Newtown voters to help realize this small victory on June 8 by voting to approve the proposed $104.3 million budget. To do that, however, Newtown voters will have to improve on the one small number they can control — voter turnout. On April 27, 21 percent of eligible voters showed up at the polls; on May 18, 28.8 percent. To meet the challenges ahead, Newtown is going to need something more than a nanodemocracy.