LETTER: NOW is the time to let your views on the budget be known

To the Editor:

It was quite amazing to watch our Wilton High School varsity debate team co-captains present at the joint meeting of the Board of Finance (BOF) and Board of Education (BOE) last month. They spoke during public comment with authority and fully extemporaneously in two really tour-de-force presentations. What they described was the impact that the debate program has had on them as a truly remarkable educational experience, instilling and sharpening skills that they will use throughout their lives. WHS’ debate program is part of its club programs.

A concert performed by WHS students in Tri-M, its music honor society, 10 days ago offered another opportunity to see a remarkable high school club program in action. The students performed music by women composers (both classical and contemporary) on violin, cello, and piano and in flute duet as well as vocally (accompanied by a student pianist). They did so with really impressive quality.

These clubs offer enormous enrichment opportunities to our students in a wide range of fields, yet the club program is in line to suffer serious consequences if the BOF can’t see its way clear to approve a proposed 4.88% BOE budget increase (down from the preliminary proposed increase of 5.6%, with the 4.88% having just been proposed by School Superintendent Kevin Smith at Thursday’s (Feb. 29) BOE meeting).

Right now clubs are running at half their usual times (meeting one time per month). The 4.88% budget includes within it restoration of clubs to much-needed full-time (averaging once-per-week) meetings. However, if the budget drops below that 4.88% increase, the club program stands to be on the block for required reductions. The diminution of these extraordinary educational opportunities would be truly tragic.

There are difficult issues presented in this year’s budget deliberations for sure, but for what has been estimated to be, for the average taxpayer, $20 per month (one relatively high-end cup of coffee a week) of additional property taxes, to support the club program as well as (a) to avoid cuts in classroom teachers in our lowest grades (otherwise having to be made despite the importance of early childhood education in laying the foundation for children’s academic achievement for years into the future and despite reports of Wilton preschools being filled to the brim with children newly arrived in the COVID-inspired exodus from NYC), and (b) to avoid cuts in WHS’ team sports program (including eliminating freshman sports entirely). Otherwise, all will need to be under consideration for the chopping block.

If we feel strongly on the subject, as well we should, it is crucial that we express our views to the BOF both at public meetings and in writing. Send BOF members an email expressing your concerns. The BOF has strongly urged this communication and explained that members rely on it heavily in their deliberations. So let your views be known, and that applies not only to adults but also to youth affected by cuts.

And be sure that when you fill out the BOF’s upcoming town survey (as we all certainly should), you keep that $20/month thought in mind when you check off the percentage increase you can live with. For too long as a town we’ve given very low education budget increases, and the results are coming home to roost in this budget year. Let’s make sure they do not roost on key programs for our students. Does it make sense to cut programs like these when there is so much to gain from them for such a modest sum for each of us?

It’s imperative right now in March to let our views be known and to make them known in multiple ways and on each occasion when public comment is possible – and there are multiple opportunities for that this month. Waiting until April to express your views is too little, too late because early April is when the BOF makes its final budget decisions for presentation at our Annual Town Meeting on May 7.

Our town is the one level of government that most directly determines the quality of education our town’s children will receive right through high school. The work done in our elementary, middle, and high school grades lays the foundation for what our students can achieve for the good of themselves, their families, and our whole society. Providing the best education we can to the next generation is undoubtedly the most important role we as a town can perform. Our students are the future not just of our town but of our whole country.

Steve Hudspeth