A Million Goes Back to the 2013-14 Education Proposal

Vernon Town Council member Adam Weissberger quipped before Tuesday's Town Council budget meeting that he had three speeches prepared - one in his left pocket, one in his right pocket and one in his back pocket. 

Whatever pocket Council members reached for had a wallet in it because members voted to add $1 million to the school system proposal for the third referendum, scheduled for June 4. 

The increase to the school system proposal is slightly less than half of what the Board of Education requested. 

The bottom line for the 2013-14 fiscal year proposal is now $82,799,460. That is $2,200,300 more than this year's budget. 

If passed at the referendum, the budget would raise taxes 1.88 mills to a rate of 35.51.

The latest proposal calls for $50,494,787 to go to education, $5,909,670 for capital and debt and $26,395,003 for general government. 

The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. on June 4 at Center 375. The referendum failed twice already in two turnouts of about 10 percent. 

Town Hall was packed with parents, students and educators who started lobbying for money to be put back into the education proposal on the Town Green and then processed up the stairs of Town Hall and into the council chambers. 

A total of 24 people spoke in favor of adding funds and just one - former mayor Joe Grabinski, who said the town is, "spending enough on education, just not spending wisely."

Grabinski said in terms of affordability, adding money to the school budget  at the expense of taxpayers might seem like robbing from the rich to give to the poor, but "the teachers are the rich." He also said the school system is "not cultivating an academic culture" and is too busy, "solving social problems."

The school budget went into the night more than $2 million lighter because of cuts made by Mayor George Apel and the council. The most passionate advocate for restoring money was Bridget Sutherland a parent of Center Road School students. She said the school system needs money - period - despite arguments that some people could not afford the tax hike. 

"Sorry for sounding insensitive, but you need to help the middle class. You need to keep me here," she said.

Rockville High School student Chelsea Poloski took the podium, turned to her fellow students, then told the council, "We're here, so listen to us."
Deputy Mayor Brian Motola led off the council comments by ripping into what considers a "good school system" with his "bottom 30" classification for Vernon. 

"The Bottom 30 has a lot less to do with our school system than poverty and money, and the governor made us all second-class citizens," he said.  

Local Democrats had openly campaigned for a rejection of the budget in an effort to put funding back into the education account. They even handed out surveys they paid for themselves outside Center 375 as the town was supplying them inside. The issue had became heated right up to the start of Tuesday's meeting and Republican Registrar of Voters John Anderson even went out of his way to dispute a claim that the town surveys had run out before the voting closed. 

Motola turned to the Democrats, asked them how much they wanted back into the education proposal and yielded the floor to council Democrat Thomas DiDio. 

DiDio immediately moved to open the education tab of the budget and then requested that $1 million be pout back in. 

"We must strive make the town better place to live … one way is to have a
strong education system," he said. DiDio said the tax increase would be about $65 on average and stressed that the town has programs available to assist those who are struggling to pay their tax bills. 

The motion to add the money was seconded by Marie Herbst, who said, "The basis of any community is its school system."

Republican Julie Clay had been skeptical about adding money, but said, "I'll have to forego my conservative nature … because this is more important."

Before voting, Republicans charged those in attendance with two tasks. 

Said Weissberger, "One of my main concerns this does not completely alleviate is a lack responsibility on the Board of Education side," he said. "Money is not the solution ultimately. It does not solve anything going forward. I hope the parents here today show the same vigor they showed us tonight and demand the right changes."

He added, "I want you to be passionate - go to the Board of Education and hold it accountable to get what you want."

Republican John Kopec who said he is happy with the school system as a parent, was also a skeptic of the tactic and said parents asked for an increase so they now have to go to the polls and vote it in. 

The vote was 9-3 in favor of adding the funds with Steven Peterson, Daniel Sullivan and Bill Campbell voting no. Campbell was the lone dissenter on the budget as a a whole.