On May 5th, the South Windsor Town Council hosted their annual meeting, at Timothy Edwards Middle School. Even though this meeting was titled as a regular Town Council meeting, there were numerous students, teachers, and residents who showed up in a display of support for the proposed school budget that the Town Council would be voting on for the year 2025-2026 fiscal year.
The Fiscal School Budget for the year 2025-2026, has been discussed for multiple months now, at various town meetings, amongst Town Council and Board of Education (BOE) members.
On April 21st, the Town Council had a discussion about the BOE at their meeting; which evoked strong responses from various members of the BOE.
On April 22nd, at the Board of Education regular meeting, BOE member Mitchell Marks spoke about how the Town Council had decided to try and rush the vote about the budget without board members, or citizens present at the meeting.
“We were led to believe there would be no action taken; this isn’t how a decision that impacts thousands of students, teachers, and families should be made,” Board Member Mitchell Marks said at the meeting on April 22nd.
Councillors Pendleton, King, and Fitzgerald acted to move the discussion to the May 5th meeting, so more residents could be present.
On May 5th, multiple residents, teachers and students showed up to speak to The Council about approving the Board of Ed’s budget, with no reductions.
The Chairman of the Board of Education, Beth Esstman, spoke to The Council, citing how South Windsor Schools spend less money per student compared to other districts in South Windsor’s DRG, or other school systems with similar socioeconomic status.
Board member Craig Zimmerman also spoke to The Council about how if there is a reduction in the proposal of the budget, it will just be kicking the can further down the road, a saying many citizens have used when speaking at previous meetings. t
South Windsor resident, Daria Plummer, who regularly speaks at meetings, advocated on behalf of the proposed Board’s budget.
“The technicality will not be lost on the students,” Plummer said during the public speaking portion of the meeting.
South Windsor High School’s woodshop teacher, Joseph Jarvis explained that due to an increase in cost, there is not enough money left in the budget to afford wood for the remainder of the year.
South Windsor resident Dan Edwards spoke on behalf of a citizen who was opposed to the current budget proposal.
Edwards read in an email that the citizens of South Windsor will not be able to afford the tax increase that would come with the current proposed budget. A point that was reinforced by Republican members of the Council. Edwards referenced the new Smartpass system that has been adopted by the high school and suggested that those funds could be reallocated to other areas.
At the end of the meeting, The Council voted on the budget, and in a vote of 5 for and 3 opposed, the Fiscal Budget for the school year 2025 – 2026 budget was passed at 98,880,328 – a 1.4% reduction from the originally proposed 100,230,328.
