Breathtaking accolades for our schools continue to roll in. On Feb. 9, the Connecticut Department of Education released its annual statewide school ratings. Drum roll: New Canaan is the number one district in the State once more. Remarkably, we’re among only 27 percent of districts whose rating improved.
We should have a parade! From morning to night, our teachers, support staff, administrators and school volunteers should feel they are appreciated by all of us for a job well done. They make us proud, they improve our children’s futures, and they’re the secret sauce of our property values.
Unfortunately, the dominant message that educators—and homebuyers—are hearing is a different one. It’s that New Canaan can’t justify spending the funds that the Board of Education has decided are needed to keep our schools on top. Even though per-student costs are in the middle of the pack of our competitors.
As Co-Chair of the New Canaan Town Council’s Education Committee, I’ve studied all the arguments for reducing the school budget. They make sense only if they don’t risk collateral damage.
Being number one, we have farther to fall. So, we should take nothing for granted.
Cutting the Board of Education budget by $1.3 million (to the 2 percent maximum increase recommended by the Board of Finance) may adversely affect teacher morale, education quality, the reputation of our schools and our property values. We don’t know the extent of those risks, though it’s implausible that no one would notice the cut. What we do know is that a $1.3 million cut would save homeowners about 1 percent in property taxes. For me, the savings would be about $200.
To avoid the risks, and to show my appreciation for our schools’ phenomenal success, I’m ready to write that check.
Does my decision ignore the potential impact of Federal tax law changes, the revaluation, and Connecticut’s fiscal crisis? To the contrary. The more grave those threats, the more important it is that we shore up the bulwark of our property values: the New Canaan Public Schools.
Tom Butterworth
On behalf of our students, thank you for your support! We encourage all citizens to consider the budget an investment in our students and property values.
Right On, Tom! You hit the nail on the head. Our schools are our greatest Town asset and they must be nurtured and cared for. Rather than laying down arbitrary percentage restrictions on budget increases (like 2%), the Board of Finance should look at what has been achieved by the school board, administration and teachers. Most of the school budget increase is due to contractual obligations, and the remainder has been thoughtfully vetted. If something is “wasteful,” deal with it. Don’t force the school board to make across the board cuts to meet superficial budgeting goals.
Tom — if you are going to write check — feel free to pay part of my taxes — The school budget has a lot of questions yet to be answered
1) why is their health plan self- ins ( big part of increase) when Darien is not and pays $10 million a yr vs our $12+ million and
has way more people or 2) why they spend $1.9 million to FIRST STUDENT for regular transportation they have 500 more students and we pay DATCO $3+million these are all good questions that I know you will be asking It is pretty odd to have a TC member write such a letter telling us he does not care how much we pay in taxes — NC taxpayers are not the federal Gov
we can’t print money all we can do is manage it — if money is the answer to education then we should give them 10% more RIGHT
NC ranked #1 in test scores Greenwich #32 nd
This data was released on 9/2017 is this the same
data Tom is talking about?
What this op-ed misses is making a substantive case that a Board of Education budget case of 2% or less will lower education quality. Instead of opinions, show us data that reinforces your concerns before reaching your conclusion. Listing out a litany of concerns to justify endless increases in spending is what Connecticut state and local representatives constantly turn to, putting us in a position where we consistently spend more than we take in. Continual deficits have led to high out-migration — especially in Fairfield County — lowering state revenues, while our fixed costs continue to increase from escalating state employee pension obligations. I would hope that a fiscally conservative and responsible town council fully recognizes this and makes New Canaan an example to the rest of the state of how to do more with less! Wouldn’t that be refreshing!
Ageree. When 70% of the budget is for salary and benefits it has nothing to do with education quality. It is greed. Time for the public sector to get ensync with the private sector and reality. Imagine if we had all summer off., winter break, spring break, this holiday that holiday and retirement after how many years in the private sector. The cost of goods and services would be prohibitive and not increase the Guaita of goods and services. Just their costs. Time for a reality check and the smoke screen about cost cutting to achieve economies of scale . So me how each increase in budget dollars going to salaries and benefits increases education quality and students readiness for the real world.
James — you are 100% right — forget about being #1 —
our goal should be that NCPS is the best managed in the state and
are in the top 10 in education while spending carefully
the taxpayers dollars — That should be are goal — we are not in an arms race to see who can spend the most money