The East Hampton education budget will now go to the people for a vote. The town council moved that budget forward today in a tight 4-3 vote.
This coming as dozens of people opposed that move.
“We’ve kind of united to support our teachers, and our students and our community," said high school senior Noelle Lavender.
She spoke about the dozens of people that showed up to Tuesday’s East Hampton town council meeting to fight a proposed education budget, which would cut about $800,000, possibly eliminating five teacher positions.
Get Connecticut local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC Connecticut newsletters.
Lavender says those staff members are crucial to student success.
“I need these people because I go through some things. Our kids go through things, and they help us no matter what,” she said.
Parents, teachers and students in attendance said the cuts can’t happen.
Local
“The people’s voice when it cries as one is a great roar, so I say listen to us roar. Send the budget back,” Deborah Field, an East Hampton resident, said.
“I have a hard time trying to understand how anybody can justify taking money away from our schools when we’re still in the process of recovering,” student Enzo Berry said.
In a tight 4-3 vote, the town council decided to move the education budget to a referendum where the town would vote.
School Superintendent Paul Smith said the proposed cuts to school staffing will move forward, but said this about the council’s action:
“I’m a little bit disheartened that they didn’t take the opportunity to send it back to the Board of Finance,” he said.
Town Council Chair Mark Philhower said he’s received messages from concerned citizens not at the meeting saying the cuts are necessary.
He also believes the Board of Education can take action themselves, saying the councilors cannot tell the board what to do.
“They can find money somewhere. Keep the teachers with removing some of the other staff,” Philhower said.
The head of the local teacher’s union is disheartened as well.
“That’s devastating. We have an incredible school system,” Neil Shilansky, president of the East Hampton Education Association, said.
May 30 is when the referendum on the town budget and education budget is supposed to happen.
