Politics & Government

Town Meeting Restores Original Budget

Voters fill Farmington High School auditorium in support of education funding.

In a rare scene, there was a quorum at the Second Annual Town Meeting, with only one goal - to restore $750,000 to the 2011-2012 budget, bringing it back to its original level.

With little discussion and a quick motion to call the question, residents were tearing their ballots and the vote was cast, motion passed and meeting adjourned. Poll workers hand-counted 324 'yes' votes and 24 'no' votes.

Town Council Chairman Mike Clark opened the meeting by warning residents of what he believes the reduced budget would mean, not just a reduction in leaf pickup and the loss of the second-grade strings music program, but a chipping away of the quality of the town.

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"I am truly concerned to stand before you and warn you of the direction we're headed in," he said. "Consider what is best for this town as a community and be careful not to dismantle the work that has been done over generations."

Board of Education Chairman Mary Grace Reed said she was at the polls May 5 and someone asked why they should support the budget. She cited a list of Farmington public schools’ achievements – commendations from Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, recognition as Blue Ribbon Schools, with SAT and math scores high above state and national levels. But she said, residents have come to take it for granted and have forgotten that excellence requires maintenance.

Find out what's happening in Farmingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Reed said every day since she was elected to the Board of Education parents have told her how their children’s dreams have been fulfilled through the schools.

“We are a district where all students achieve at high levels but we cannot do that without the support of the community and the funding we so desperately need,” she said.  

Superintendent of Schools Kathleen Greider also read through a lengthy list, this one of losses the Farmington schools had suffered in the past four years: the culinary program, language arts tutorial, Latin at Irving Robbins, larger class sizes, family and consumer science at Irving Robbins, cuts to curriculum and the late bus at West Woods Upper Elementary School, a reading specialist at Farmington High School and a special education paraprofessional. Since 2008-09, Greider said, the district had lost the equivalent of 31.95 fulltime positions.

Cuts to reduce the budget by $450,000 would go deeper, she said, into second-grade strings, teachers at West Woods, and reductions to world language, technology, professional development and summer school.

The final round of cuts were too much, parents said. Several spoke in favor of education before Ned Statchen made a motion to bring the budget back up to the Town Council's original proposed budget. 

Others warned against it, saying previous town meetings had done the same and failed, resulting in deeper cuts. 

The Town Council's original budget now returns to the voters May 19 at regular polling places from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Full story and video will be posted Tuesday morning.


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