Board of Finance Votes to Reduce Education Budget

At Monday night's meeting, the Board of Finance voted to reduce the education budget by $400,000, bringing the budget increase from 4.72 percent to 3.74 percent. Chairman of the Board of Finance, William Kingston, said that the numbers were cut with regret from all of the members of the board.

He said that no one on the Board advocated greater cuts, and that some members would have preferred not to see any cuts at all.

 Kingston said, “The education budget was the hardest one to cut. It's going to harm the school system. Hopefully they can minimized the damage.”

 According to Kingston, the budget was cut because the board did not feel it would pass at the upcoming referendum. “My problem is not that I don't believe the Board of Education. They gave us a status quo budget. I just don't think the people of Bethel can afford it this year. It was a very painful decision and not without consequences.”

 Chairman of the Board of Education, Larry Craybas, called last night's meeting disappointing. He said, “Taking $400,000 out of the budget means losing six or seven people. And this at a time when there are so many changes happening in education in state of Connecticut. Bethel is on the leading edge with teacher evaluations and working with state universities to help better prepare teachers that are coming out of their programs. We have been working on core standards where we can really help kids master what they need to master.” Craybas shook his head sadly.

 “We are talking six or seven positions,” Kevin Smith, Ph.D, superintendent of schools, said. “We can't provide the kind of excellent programming that we have had without maintaining staff count.”

 “A few years ago, we lost the equivalent of nine full time positions, and the next year we lost eleven,” Theresa Yonski, director of Board of Finance Fiscal Services, said. “Programs are people. When we have a cut of that magnitude, it has to be programs and people, or classroom size.”

 The Town Hall meeting will be held April 4, and voters will decide what is yet to come for Bethel Schools.