From the Newtown Bee, 4/11/2025
To the Editor:
I am very concerned about the referendum coming up on April 22 at the middle school. If we don’t pass the budget on the first go around, we will have to endure budget cuts that will hurt Newtown in many ways.
The education budget, especially, needs to be passed as is. The possibility of teachers being fired (and the closing of a school has actually been discussed), means that class sizes would increase, negatively affecting Newtown’s reputation for excellence in education.
This means less people will consider Newtown as an option when relocating. Many of us moved to Newtown specifically because of the excellence of its education system, myself included. Both of our girls went through Newtown’s schools and are now thriving at 28 and nearly 30. In addition, I was a teacher in Newtown for many years and experienced that excellence from the inside.
In addition, we need to pass the town budget and vote in key expenditures for the Booth Library, the high school, the Community Center, the Bridge Replacement Program, and Edmond Town Hall renovations. All of these are essential. Our tax increase has been flat for the past 10 years, and it’s long overdue to make these necessary fixes.
The reasons for the increases are easy to understand because we are all feeling them individually. Among these are the rise in utility costs, higher insurance costs, and inflation.
Please consider seriously when you go into the middle school to vote on April 22 and vote “yes” for both budgets as well as the key expenditures noted above.
The excellent reputation of our town is very much at stake.
Lynn Hungaski
Newtown