Fairfield Teachers Union Endorses Curley, Marmion And Starke For Board Of Finance

The Fairfield Education Association (FEA) is proud to endorse Craig Curley, Sheila Marmion, and Kevin Starke for election to the Fairfield Board of Finance.

For more than a decade, town bodies have reduced the funding requests of the Board of Education by over $20 million. Those reductions dropped our per pupil spending from 29th in the state in 2007/2008 to 66th out of 169 towns today, forcing the district to make unacceptable tradeoffs. For instance, to hire social workers to meet the social and emotional needs of our elementary students we had to cut art. Poor pay has left our schools without badly needed paraprofessionals. Some of our classrooms reach 90-100 degrees in the fall and spring because of no air conditioning.

Our schools are a public good and not merely an operational expense that can be traded off against current crises, whether it be the fill pile remediation efforts, the need for a new sewage treatment facility, or something else.

Electing Sheila Marmion, Craig Curley, and Kevin Starke to the Board of Finance represents a unique opportunity to pivot away from these false choices. Together, their professional and community experience have provided them with extensive expertise in bonding large capital projects, strategic budgeting, and the institutional memory to know where Fairfield has been and where we are going. More importantly, they see our public schools for what they are, an asset of the community deserving of support and investment.

If you care about the health and well being of our schools and Fairfield’s children, I urge you to vote for Craig Curley, Sheila Marmion and Kevin Starke for the Board of Finance on November 2. Our schools can no longer afford to be squeezed financially.

Bob Smoler
President: Fairfield Education Association