Funding Alternatives For Education

(The following letter to the members of the Board of Education has been received for publication.)

Dear Members of the Board of Education:

I am disappointed that you did not thoroughly review the information about joining the Connecticut Coalition for Justice in Education Funding (CCJEF). I asked you during the last budget session if you were pursuing finding other resources to fund education in Newtown since more than 90 percent of education is funded by local property taxes. I learned about CCJEF in a News-Times article published on January 23, 2005 and informed you of this. Since then, I did some homework and attended the CCJEF conference in Hartford in April. I returned with information that was submitted to Dr Pitkoff and Mr Rosenthal for review. I am disappointed this information did not get to you before this week. I have tried to contact Ms McClure via phone and email to discuss the specifics prior to the Board of Education meeting this evening. As a public participant at the meeting, I am not able to freely converse with the board members.

It is clear that relying on local property taxes alone to fund education is inadequate. I have been following the budget process for six years and witnessed the struggle we have had to sustain the adequate level of education on a very tight budget with few votes to pass the budget. You have a list of Capital Improvement Projects (CIP), and you are asked by the Board of Finance to prioritize the needs to avoid bond-rating changes. We have many needs relating to our schools: High school expansion, middle school auditorium/café expansion, and HVAC system to improve air quality at Hawley/Middle School/Sandy Hook/Middle Gate, and many needs due to increases in enrollment. Lack of funding seems to be the leading cause of much debate in Newtown yet as members of the elected board, you are not proactive in advocating to pursue other sources to fund education.

The facts are clear: The federal government does not adequately fund NCLB and the state government does not adequately fund education. The Education Cost Sharing Grant provides us with insufficient funds. There has been approximately a 50 percent decrease in state support for Newtown schools in the last ten years. We need strong leadership to pursue state funding of education as a constitutional right of all children. The math is easy: more state money for education, less property tax burden, more money to purchase open space, and more money for CIP.

The State of Maryland has had significant success with education funding. Maryland’s legislature passed the Bridge to Excellence Act in 2002 and they increased education funding by $1.3 billion, which was increased to more than $5 billion over five years. The State of Maryland created the Thornton Commission to study equity and adequacy of education funding prior to passing the bipartisan act. CCJEF has followed this model to study equity and adequacy of education funding in Connecticut.

Please review all information provided and go to www.ccjef.org for additional information. I encourage you to invite Diane Kaplan deVries, the CCJEF project director for questions. It would be a disservice to the students, the voters, and the taxpayers of Newtown to always work on the bottom line and not pursue alternative funding possibilities.

Po Murray

38 Charter Ridge Drive, Sandy Hook                 September 20, 2005