As a former member of this Board, I write with growing alarm about the district’s apparent unwillingness to rein in its ever-expanding financial appetite.
The newly adopted budget reflects a 3.03% increase over last year, bringing district spending to roughly $87 million for approximately 1,700 students. That translates to more than $50,000 per student per year, a level that rivals what families pay for private school. Yet this district does not deliver results that justify such extraordinary spending. Its performance remains modest at best, while taxpayers are asked year after year to shoulder an ever-higher burden.
This is happening at a time when families are already under significant financial strain. Town taxes, utility costs, fuel, food, and the general cost of living continue to rise, while wages do not keep pace. In that environment - which will only worsen with the current geopolitical situation - the Board’s repeated answer cannot simply be to raise the levy again, and again.
Just as troubling is the broader effect on the community. A district with high taxes, rising per-pupil costs, and only middling outcomes does not strengthen local property values; it depresses them. It makes the community less attractive to prospective buyers, less affordable to current residents, and more vulnerable to long-term decline. A school district cannot preserve itself by steadily weakening the tax base on which it depends.
Where is the serious public discussion of consolidating building use, rethinking transportation patterns, aligning staffing with enrollment realities, reevaluating the district’s heavy reliance on costly special education placements and services, and pursuing real operational efficiencies? Where is the evidence of strategic thinking equal to the scale of the problem? Fiscal stewardship requires more than approving annual increases rooted in "wish lists".
If the Board shows itself incapable of engineering a structure that is educationally effective, financially sustainable, and fair to the broader community, then more fundamental alternatives will inevitably enter the public discussion.
Sincerely,
Tanya Dragic
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