By James Lomuscio
Saying that the Westport Board of Education was not immune from the same fiscal belt tightening as the town during an economic downturn, the Representative Town Meeting (RTM) tonight voted against restorations to the school board’s $96 million budget for the 2010-2011 school year.
The RTM members present in the Town Hall auditorium voted 31 to 4 against the $500,000 restoration that the school board had sought, and 25 to 9 against a $250,000 restoration making the Board of Finance approved $96.1 million budget stand.
The votes came after many representatives had argued that the school board would have to learn to manage with less and share the same pain municipal departments experienced Monday night when few restorations were made.
“I’m glad it’s over and everybody had their say,” said Donald G. O’Day, school board chairman.“We’ll now have to cut services to the level that is least offensive to the students.”
As he left the meeting, Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon reiterated the same disappointment.
“We have no choice but to address the cuts in a way that has the least impact on kids,” said Landon.
He had previously warned of increased class size at the elementary level, as well as program cuts. Landon also said that the RTM had not made compelling arguments for not restoring the funds.
“I think the Board of Education made the best argument with the budget that was presented,” he said.
Throughout the evening, many RTM members had lauded the school board and Landon for presenting a thoughtful, no frills budget to the finance board.
The proposed budget, which the finance board cut by $1 million in March and restored $500,000 in April, would have would have been a 2.3 percent increase over last year.
Saying was “no low hanging fruit” when it came to other cuts, Landon urged the school board to seek the full $1 million restoration. But with no restorations tonight, next year’s budget is just 1.6 percent higher than this year’s.
“Don’t think the cuts won’t be felt,” said April Book, a parent who said she collected 700 signatures from residents who would not mind paying higher taxes to assure Westport maintained stellar schools.
Michael Rea, chairman of the RTM Finance Committee, told the RTM the same thing he said at Monday night’s municipal budget hearing, “to learn to say no,” so that people who are hurting in the current economic climate will not see their taxes rise.
Regarding Book’s 700 signatures, Rea said, “What I don’t hear from are the 700 individuals who are unemployed in this town.”
“We cannot keep growing exponentially,” he said.
The RTM takes up the balance of the municipal budget Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.
