To the Editor:

Let me get this straight… the Board of Finance (BOF) voted to reduce the Board of Education (BOE) budget request by $1.4 million. Then with a very short discussion, they voted to approve a $2 million bonded amount to build yet another sports turf field. I thought our town priorities were to continue to support our award-winning schools, the reason many people have moved here to enjoy. Having worked in real estate for the past 20 years, I know that the first thing a client asks about is the school system, whether they have school-aged kids or not. This in fact has a lot to do with the value of Wilton homes and why people move here.

It is a mistake to strip our school system financially without understanding the larger, long-term impact it will have. It’s not hard to see that the $1.4 million cut in the BOE budget by the BOF is targeted at the coaching program in each of the four schools. I’m curious to know if any of the BOF members have even met with any of the coaches or observed in the classroom how the program works as fellow Wilton citizen Steve Hudspeth did (see his related letter to the editor).  

The coaching program in Wilton began in 2015 and this model has been evaluated and refined since then to focus on student achievement. Since then the school system has invested in professionally training these coaches to adopt this student-centered coaching model in all the Wilton schools. This coaching model is directly tied to student achievement. We have award-winning schools because of the high-quality teaching that the coaching program supports. People move here because of the high quality of education we provide, and quality teachers want to teach here because of the professional support our schools provide. This is a win-win for our town.

Shame on the BOF for their short-sighted mistake! Do we want to short-change our prize-winning schools with this cavalier slashing of the BOE request? The BOF has left us with only one choice and that is to vote ‘No, too LOW’ on the total town budget since the two budgets are combined on the ballot in May. Voting ‘No’ to the town budget is the only way it will be sent back to the BOF to allow them to right the wrong that they have created. 

Get out and vote, it’s important!

Susan Mathews

6 replies on “Letter: “Shame on BOF for Cavalier Slashing” of $1.4 Million from School Budget — Vote ‘No’”

  1. What item by item cost is really making Wilton’s budget bulge and causing the mill rate to increase? Take a look at that. The $2million for a turf field which is needed to accommodate all the school sports programs for the children. There are other expenditures that you should direct your outrage toward.

  2. In my opinion, the $2 million turf field allocation is a mistake. The $1.4 million BOE cut didn’t go far enough. Plenty of fat there…
    The BOE’s unilateral decision to admit non resident students, based on a lottery system, adds to the budget concerns. The ABC program is based on merit and has worked well.

    1. There’s no meaningful budget impact from Open Choice; in fact, since we already have the free slots, I suspect the $15k we’ll receive from the state for Open Choice next year will be more than what we spend on them.

      (also, aside from the other problems with basing this on “merit”, how exactly do you propose to assess the “merit” of a bunch of 5-year-olds?)

      1. There is nothing in writing about Open Choice and its budget impacts. At the BOE meeting on Open Choice there were a lot of promises being made by the Superintendent and members of the BOE about what would and would not happen:
        – We were told it’s not a pure lottery (what is written in State documents, and which freaked people out because it would mean that we would not necessarily be taking in minorities – as opposed to poor white children) but a “weighted lottery.”
        – We were told costs due to IEPs would be covered and that unusual costs would not trouble the Town and Norwalk would pay (nothing in writing on this but some “trust me’s”). One of the BOE members asking for an MOU with Norwalk to guarantee this was shot down
        -We were told that some of the Town gentry would step in and cover the costs to integrate these students into our community (again, nothing in writing)

        Fingers crossed there is no financial impact from Open Choice but the decision was made in a way that does not protect Wilton’s taxpayers

  4. I agree with (somewhat) with Susan. Even though I do not discount all of the hard work done in preparing the budget, there are elements that just don’t make sense in these times of extreme financial fluctuations. I for one take issue with the education cut but more so with the artificial turf field project, which I think is a luxury item in these tight fiscal times. I also plan to vote no.

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