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Torrington Board of Education Budget Is Absurd
By Anthony J. Basso, Torrington
On Tuesday, April 30, I attended the public hearing for the Torrington Board of Education's proposed 2002-03 budget. A 9.6% increase above last year’s budget is being requested. This is absolutely absurd. Superintendent of Schools Gregory Riccio stated that 85% of the proposed budget is for salaries and benefits for teachers and administrators. Of the 9.6% increase depicted on the "pie chart" handout, 3% is for wages and 4% for benefits, consequently a 7% increase. However, the only increase for the students are 0.9% and 0.6% for special education tuition and supplies, respectively. This seems to be a relatively small percentage to be used for the students.
Torrington's per-pupil expenditure was compared to other towns. We ranked 141st out of 169 towns. However, Torrington was compared with much wealthier towns, which is not a true comparison. To make a realistic judgment one must compare towns of equal population and the same economic status. I think if this were done, Torrington would rank rather high on the scale.
I, among many other taxpayers, cannot understand why the Board of Education thinks that a student will receive a better education if we expend millions of dollars on salaries and benefits for teachers and administrators. Can't they see that the teachers and administrators, rather than the students, benefit most from this increase in the budget?
Don't they realize they are only placing a burden on the taxpayers? Are the teachers going to teach better than they are teaching now? If so, they are not presently giving 100% of their teaching abilities.
Does the Board of Education realize why local businesses do not keep an inventory of materials on hand and are considering moving out of Torrington? The answer is simple—taxes are too high. It is about time that the Board of Education paid more attention to perfecting curriculum rather than increasing the cost of salaries and benefits.
We appear to be top-heavy with administrators and have somehow formed a bureaucracy in our educational system. If we eliminate the assistant superintendent position as well as all of the assistant principals, we could save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. In the past, what did superintendents and principals do to keep the education system performing well? They did not have assistants.
Governor John Rowland is considering laying off state employees to balance the state budget. Perhaps we should be considering laying off teachers to balance our budget. What makes their jobs so sacred that they cannot be laid off?
Hopefully, the Board of Finance will not approve such a tremendous increase in the Board of Education's budget. A 9.6% increase will increase the mill rate by approximately 2.9 mills.
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