Easton Board of Education Budget and School Enrollment

If the 2020 Easton Board of Education budget is approved, from 2007 at peak Easton school enrollment through this year, our education budget will have increased by 26% and per pupil spending by 67%, while student enrollment decreased by 25%. Concurrently, from 2007 to 2018, Easton median household income increased by only 1% (CTData.org). This trend is not sustainable.

Town of Easton Annual Reports only began including the number of school employees in 2011. Since that time the number of employees has gone from 161 to 169, an increase of 5%, while enrollment went from 1100 to 904. It is also of note that in the four years since CT began using the Smarter Balanced test, Easton performance scores have remained flat, averaging 82.5% in English/Language Arts, with a variation of less than 2 percentage points and 77.9% in math with a variation of .5 percentage points. While it may be disappointing to see performance scores flat, the Smarter Balance growth scores, which measure what percentage of students reach their assigned goal, are concerning. English/language arts growth scores have dropped by 12% and math growth scores by a whopping 24%. We are in a situation where we are spending significantly more with very little in academic progress to show for it. Easton citizens must insist on more reasonable budgets and better educational results for the money we spend.

Submitted by Sherry L. Harris
On behalf of Citizens for Responsible Government
Available at http://www.EastonEye.org

SOURCES

• 2007- 2018 data: Easton Annual Reports
• 2018-19 data: Town of Easton Financial Report, June 30, 2019 and Prowda Projection dated 1/15/19
• 2019-21 data: BOF Budget Proposal FY 2020/2021 and Easton Public Schools Enrollment Projected to 2029 dated 1/30/19
• CTData.org
• EdSight.ct.gov (click Performance)