Representative Town Meeting Annual Budget Meeting Materials - Day 1 (linked)

David Campo
From: David Peabody <david.peabody@ymail.com>
Sent: Thursday, April 29, 2021 8:24 AM
To: David Campo
Subject: Comments requested to be read aloud in the RTM Meeting to support the BOE budget
I “CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. : 1
| Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender's email address and know the I
| content is safe. I
Hello Dave,
| am asking that my following comments be read aloud during the public comment session at the
RTM meeting's review of the Board of Education budget. Please let me know if you have any
questions or if | have submitted this incorrectly.
Thanks,
Dave Peabody
Dear RTM members,
My name is David Peabody and | am asking for your support of the Board of Education's budget.
| am asking this for the following reasons.
1. Providing the Town's children with a high level education that prepares them for life is one of the
most important functions of government. Beyond protecting our citizens, this is your top job. Side
effects of providing a high level of education are creating a desirable town to live in which ultimately
results in financial benefits like higher home prices and tax revenue for all as well.
2. After watching Superintendent Giard's presentation last year, the key takeaway for me was that our
town spend per pupil was at the median for the state, but our student's performance was towards the
top of the overall state's performance. Our tax money is being spent effectively to educate our
students, we are getting more bang for our buck than the majority of other towns.
3. | watched the RTM review of last year's BOE budget. The fact is there were no specific line items
or costs found or questioned by the RTM to be invalid, incorrect, or not prudent. However, the RTM
arbitrarily made a significant cut to the BOE budget. This was done at a time when our most
vulnerable citizens, our children, needed support the most during the pandemic.
In conclusion, The BOE demonstrated their own financial prudence last year and this year. The
superintendent and town educators have demonstrated the effective use of provided budget to
support and educate our children. You will either support and keep our school system's trajectory on
the path to high performance and envy by other towns, or continue with cuts to the budget which will
decrease the school system's performance, ultimately, costing more in the long term when we see we
have to turn around our schools. For this, | ask you to support the BOE budget proposal to keep
Waterford schools high performing.
Thank you,
Dave Peabody