Education is expensive. By far it is the largest part of every municipal budget in the state. Every dollar is a precious commodity paid from the pockets of hard working taxpayers who fund our district. It is critical that all stakeholders have faith that all is being done to maximize resources.

Many of the functions of a board of education are similar to those of municipal government. In all communities, there is often duplicity with regard to administrative, financial and human resource operations.



While there have been efforts to share such services in the past, tangible cooperation is often limited by Connecticut law which gives boards of education complete control of all finances approved by the municipal government. There are examples in Naugatuck of cost savings through limited sharing of services, but we need to be open to explore further collaboration that could result in savings to taxpayers.

Under Mayor Hess’ leadership, the Joint Boards of Finance and Mayor and Burgesses has done an outstanding job of crafting responsible budgets during difficult financial times. This has resulted in real savings for taxpayers. I believe the Joint Boards would be open to creative collaboration with our Board of Education to reduce duplicity in administrative functions. While there has always been historical reluctance by education officials to do so, it is the right approach not only for taxpayers but for students as well.