10 Reasons to Vote YES for the Region 15 Schools Budget

On Wednesday, May 4, 2016, Southbury and Middlebury residents will vote for the Region 15 Schools Budget and respective Town budgets. Southbury residents vote at the Fire Department on Main Street, while Middlebury votes at the Shephardson Community Center on Whittlemore Road. Polls are open 6am to 8pm.

While proponents of the budget can cite many reasons to support the Region 15 Schools Budget, the accompanying list culls the reasons down to a Top 10 List (maybe we can get David Letterman to come out of retirement!).

Perhaps most telling in this year's budget planning cycle is that the Region 15 Schools Budget received support from elected Board of Education members representing both Southbury and Middlebury for the first time in a long time. The proposed budget, with what has been described by board members as a "responsible," "reasonable" and "necessary" 2.58% increase (with only 2.3% of the entire budget supporting instruction of students), has received vocal support from Board of Education members in both towns at public meetings and via social media, urging other board members and the public at large to support this budget which they believe is in the best interest of the residents of both towns.

According to members of the Board and the administration -- and supported by many from the community -- the impact of a Region 15 Schools budget defeat, as happened two years ago on top of two years of zero percent budgets, would be devastating to the quality of education. State statistics prove that Region 15 already invests less per student than a majority of school districts in Connecticut and less than many neighboring and comparable districts. Moreover, they believe it would be devastating to the reputations of both towns as places people want to live in as the quality of public schools is consistently the most important factor considered when moving to a new community. History shows the best (and increasingly only) return on a resident's investment of their taxes in their community -- whether a young family or a senior living on a fixed income — is the one made when voting to support public school budgets developed by administrators and elected Board of Education members working together on smart, reasonable and responsible budgets that safeguard education while recognizing fragile economic times.

Providing an excellent education the community can afford is the guiding principle of the Region 15 Board of Education. The 2.58% increase in the school budget is necessary and reasonable. I urge all of my neighbors in Southbury and Middlebury to vote YES on Wednesday, May 4.