Schools Dominate Budget Hearing

Giving the schools an increase of $1 million, when they hoped for $4 million, may not sound like a cut, but speakers in Wednesday's public hearing on Danbury's budget for 2011-2012 said it will hurt the youngest students.

All-day kindergarten will likely be eliminated, and the city's Head Start program may be reduced. That is a rapid about-face for a city that had been focusing on early-childhood education for years.

The schools will have fewer books, fewer languages, no all-day kindergarten and Head Start will have reduced funding, warned Richard Jannelli, board of education member. "I'm concerned about the cuts being made," one parent said.

  In addition to rising costs in the budget from health care and pensions, the schools saw flat or lower revenues from state and federal sources. Couple that with the $1 million city increase, which didn't keep pace with rising pension and health care costs, and the schools are being squeezed.

"Flat funding isn't good enough for our taxpayers and our students," said Irving Fox, chairman of the Board of Education. "This is an unsustainable situation."

The city's goal for the last five years has been to turn the community's birth to 8-year-olds into lifelong learners by making them school ready.

"We were beginning to see the fruits of our labors," said Anne Mead, administrator for early childhood education and extended learning in Danbury. The problem was some children arrive in kindergarten, and on day one that's their first day of school-based learning. Some children arrive with no pre-school or Head Start experience.

Those children can't put on a jacket or tie a shoe in some cases. They have trouble sitting in a chair, identifying colors or the letters in their names, in some cases, Mead said.

In the last kindergarten class, 350 of 800 children had no previous learning in day cares or Head Start.

"Those kids don't catch up," Mead said. "Don't let the work this community has done go to waste. A small increase to the mill rate would be OK."

Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton said the problem with funding the schools or other parts of city government don't happen in isolation. The money isn't available.

He said the city had 187 home foreclosures in 2011, but it had only seven in 2005. He said the city's unemployment was about 3 percent in 2005, but it is at 8.2 percent this year.

"It nearly tripled," Boughton said. "You have to understand the pressure our families are having."

The City Council closed the public hearing and is likely to approve the budget at its May 3 meeting.