Representative Town Meeting Annual Budget Meeting Materials - Day 4 (linked)

David Campo
From: Ben Parent <benparent@gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2020 8:15 AM
To: David Campo
Subject: Response to proposed cuts
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Greetings Mr. Campo-
Let me start by saying that I appreciate the hard work by our representatives that goes into assessing our
revenue streams, budgeting, planning, allocating resources and looking after the long- and short-term financial
well-being of our fine town. I’m sure it is not easy work.
That being said, 1 am deeply concerned about the recent RTC vote to reduce the already-approved education
budget by $470,000, and as importantly, where those cuts will come from: likely music, arts, theater,
enrichment programs, maybe even sports... activities not deemed “essential” to the basic curricular core of
schools, but that bring real value and inspiration to the lives of individual students and help build discipline,
character and interest in lifelong learning... the real values of education.
While I think the schools in our town are still well above average, the regional competition for alternative
education has continued to grow by leaps and bounds in the past few years. Unfortunately, our schools continue
to slip in rankings like U.S. News when compared to towns around us like East Lyme, Old Lyme and Ledyard.
Pairing back our educational resources further only ensures that we will continue to slip away from excellence
toward a lower standard, ultimately making our community less desirable for new families to live in. “Standard”
is not what we want for our town or our children, nor what we think of when we think of Waterford. I strongly
implore you to reconsider cutting the proposed $470,000 from the education budget.
Ben Parent
35 Forest Street
Waterford, CT