Patch Candidate Profile: Todd Higgins​, Newtown Board of Education

NEWTOWN, CT — The 2023 municipal election is heating up in Newtown and there are plenty of races with candidates eager to serve in elected office.

Newtown Patch asked candidates to answer questions about their campaigns and will be publishing candidate profiles as Election Day draws near.

Todd Higgins, 51, is running for re-election to the Newtown Board of Education as a Republican.

Education.

BA Political Science and Philosophy, Queens College, City University of New York; JD Fordham University School of Law, Magna Cum Laude; PhD Course Work Political Science and Adjunct Professor of Constitutional Law, University of Connecticut

What is your occupation?

Attorney, Strategic Advisor and Entrepreneur for more than 25 years

Do you have a family? If so, please tell us about them.

My partner Lidia and I have six children (three boys and three girls) between the ages of 5 and 24, and a 5 year old German Shepard named Larry.

Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?

No

Have you ever held a public office, whether appointive or elective?

I was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Board of Education earlier this year.

Why are you seeking this office?

I believe that my commitment to excellence and intellectual honesty, combined with my experience and track record executing difficult challenges, can make a difference for our schools and for our town.

Please complete this statement: The single most pressing issue facing my constituents is _____, and this is what I intend to do about it.

The single most pressing issue facing Newtown is a political culture increasingly dominated by dishonest partisan rhetoric, which serves only to mask an underlying complacency and lack of urgency in navigating the opportunities we have and the challenges we face, including with our school system.

If elected, I intend to continue doing what I am already doing on the Board of Education--tackling tough challenges, asking hard questions, using reason and evidence to cut through empty platitudes and vague aspirational statements--regardless of the political affiliation associated with them, pressing for a standard of excellence in our schools and concrete metrics of accountability to chart our progress getting there, and using my experience and skill sets to help support our district in execution now--not later.

What are the major differences between you and the other candidates seeking this post?

There are a number of significant differences between myself and "independent" candidate Bruce Walczak, including practical skills and experience, but I believe the one voters should pay particular attention to is the courage to be honest.

According to Mr. Walczak, our school performance data looks great, wanting to raise the standard of academic excellence constitutes "bashing," and “we don’t need Board of Education members bringing an agenda into the management of our school system.”

Putting aside that the primary function of the Board is to set policy and manage the Superintendent, Mr. Walczak has abandoned any pretense of independent thinking and reasoned discourse in favor of nonsensical partisan buzzwords, even about something that should not be controversial--the pursuit of academic excellence. This is unfortunate and comes at the expense of Newtown students and voters, who deserve thoughtful and honest discussion about serious issues.

Here’s the reality check—in the 2017/2018 school year, almost 72% of Newtown 11th and 12th graders met the Connecticut college and career readiness benchmark. In 2022/2023, barely 58 percent met that benchmark, with only 55% meeting the SAT benchmark, 37% meeting the AP benchmark and 9% meeting the ACT benchmark. That’s a nearly 20% decline in the past five years in a crucial, objective marker for academic performance and student outcomes.

This is not just a Newtown problem. As the CEO of ACT explained this week after witnessing record low ACT scores across the country, “the hard truth is that we are not doing enough to ensure that graduates are truly ready for postsecondary success in college and career.” Instead, we are "continuing to see a rise in the number of seniors leaving high school without meeting any of the college readiness benchmarks, even as student GPAs continue to rise.” This should be a sobering fact to every parent in Newtown as they head to the polls in November.

If elected, my "agenda" is to pursue excellence and work as hard as I possibly can to help elevate academic performance, enhance student outcomes, and increase our district’s prestige. And be honest about it.

That is the difference.

What other issues do you intend to address during your campaign?

While my focus is on raising the standard of excellence in our schools, I believe it is also very important for elected officials to rely on reason and evidence, maintain intellectual honesty and analytical consistency, and pursue the best path regardless of where that takes them on the political spectrum. I intend to continue modeling that in my campaign and to press others, regardless of party, to do the same. Newtown has tremendous opportunities to be the small town with the big future but the stakes are high, complacency is the risk, and it is essential that we be honest with ourselves and with each other as we build the bridge to our future.

What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?

My life started in extreme childhood poverty, one of four boys raised by a single disabled mother in Queens, New York. At age 14, I had little choice but to leave school to work full time and help support my family. Having gone from that bleak beginning to graduating Fordham Law, building a successful law firm, teaching undergraduate students, running private and public businesses, and guiding non-profit organizations, I am acutely aware of what it takes to overcome adversity and the incredible power that education and hard work holds to change lives, as it changed my own. I have spent most of my life translating those lessons into execution and paying it forward, helping others to successfully navigate difficult challenges in times of opportunity and in times of crisis, doing so with empathy, reason, intellectual honesty, and gritty perseverance.

I believe that it is this combination of life experience and acquired skills that will make a positive contribution to the serious and challenging work at hand for the Board of Education.

What is the best advice anyone ever gave you?

"Keep going," from my younger brother and fellow traveler Matt Higgins. Most of what it takes to overcome adversity and get hard things done comes down to an unbreakable resolve to keep going, no matter what, putting one foot in front of the other. That is how we have sought to live our lives.

Is there anything else you would like voters to know about yourself and your positions?

When I was asked to serve on the Board of Education earlier this year by the Republican Party, some privately cautioned (and perhaps worried) whether it would make sense for someone with my background and apolitical focus to serve on the Board of Education. It was a fair concern because while some will talk about independence and non-partisanship, few have the courage and personal fortitude to live it. Voters should know that I do have the courage. I believe in intellectual honesty, reason, and getting things done. I could care less who claims credit for it, as long as we do what's best. The voters can count on me to call things as they are, regardless of the politics, and then work as hard as possible to make things better.