Monday’s RTM meeting featured a Sense of the Meeting Resolution regarding the Greenwich Public Schools budget that was recently approved by the Board of Estimate and Taxation.
Depending on one’s point of view, it was either drastically and arbitrarily reduced by $4.1 million despite having been approved by the BOE in a 7-1 vote, or reflected an increase albeit a smaller one than had been sought, and could be accommodated by finding efficiencies.
The RTM does not have the power to increase a budget line. They only have the ability reduce. Only the BET can add to a budget line.
And although the SOMR was non-binding and non-actionable, the vote was intended to send a message to the BET to reopen the 2025-26 schools budget.
The SOMR itself was not on the original agenda, but was added after a vote yielded the required two-thirds majority.
Steve Rubin read the SOMR that originated in the Education committee he chairs:
• Whereas the Education Committee was severely disappointed in the outcome of the BET decision to cut $4,048,621 from the Greenwich Public Schools operating budget for fiscal 2026.
• Whereas the Education Committee feels it is our fiduciary responsibility to make sure Greenwich Public Schools, and its students are properly funded.
Therefore, it is our Sense of the Meeting resolution that the Education Committee of RTM respectfully requests that BET re-open the operating budget vote for fiscal year 2026, to better meet the financial needs of GPS.
The SOMR was amended to omit the word “fiduciary” and to reflect a few scriverer’s edits including spelling out GPS as Greenwich Public Schools.
- Whereas the Education Committee was severely disappointed in the BET decision to reduce the Board of Education’s Approved Operating Budget by $4,048,621 for Fiscal Year 2025-2026.
- Whereas the Representative Town Meeting feels it is our fiduciary responsibility to make sure Greenwich Public Schools and its students are properly funded.
Althought a vote passed to cut off discussion of the SOMR with 13 people waiting to speak, several RTM members did have the chance to testify.
Karen Krause said, “I am alarmed and dismayed the BET cut $4 million from the schools operating budget, especially after a Republican member mentioned an earlier offer of a $2 million cut. Our children should not suffer as a result of partisan politics and brinkmanship. References have been made to corporate cost cutting. As an executive officer, I have led a large cost cutting effort at a Fortune 1000 publicly traded company – this is very different. Non negotiable increases in mandated programs such as Pre-K and special education, along with previously negotiated contract increases, drove the increase.”
Ms Krause said the BOE will be forced to cut programs that are not mandated such as art, ALP, music, and physical education, and to move start times earlier for high school students.
“Of course no one wants to pay more in property taxes, but the mandated increases leave us no choice if we want to protect the general education for the 85% of students not in IEPs,” she added. “Even if all we cared about was money, lower quality schools impact property values and ultimately tax receipts which fund a whole range of services for our town that benefit everyone.”
Molly Saleeby warned of be dire consequences of the $4.1 shortfall.
“You make decisions like that when you don’t have money for food on the table. That’s not the case in Greenwich,” she said. “For school start time, we were a leader in that. it’s going to be state mandated, perhaps. It would be a disservice and dysfunctional to take that away.”
Beth MacGillivray disagreed.
“For weeks we have been bombarded with emails shouting the sky is falling, fund our schools fully, or our kids are going to suffer. When did fully funding become a phrase that means no questions asked.”
“This is about asking why GPS can’t find efficiencies, yet GPS is spending millions more than they did last year,” MacGillivray said. “We already spend more per pupil than our peers. When did we stop demanding accountability and results for every dollar spent. What keeps me awake at night is a fact: A town like Scarsdale, NY – similar to Greenwich – has nearly 99% proficiency in math. Greenwich lags with a 64% proficiency. This is a crisis hiding in plain sight. Yet we are told to keep writing blank checks, to keep trusting, keep hoping things will improve. How is it we are told to keep paying while others achieve more for less?”
MacGillivray suggested the two HR departments (for the town and for the schools) be merged as an example of a possible efficiency.
“Our academic results remain uneven, year after year. We’re not asking for cuts. We’re asking for courage. Demand efficiencies. Address absenteeism. And reward results, not requests. We create a culture of dependency, not excellence by spending, spending, spending.”
PTA Council president John Fisher noted a resident satisfaction survey last year found that the most important issue to Greenwich residents was quality of education and the state of the schools.
“The quality of education and academic outcomes have steadily risen over the last several years. Ratings and rankings by the CT Dept of Education, US News & World Reports, Great Schools and Niche all place our school and the district as top rated in the state of Connecticut.”
“Many of our schools and our district are ranked #1, #2 and #3 – GHS is ranked #4 in the state of Connecticut,” Fisher added “Our rankings ratings and test score continue to rise. Study after study shows that property values are directly tied to school ratings and rankings. Good schools and higher property values benefit everyone. A higher grand list value enables everything: town services, parks, infrastructure, a low mill rate and the quality of life in our community.”
Kara Philbin from District 10 said GPS had six separate community based pre-school special education programs for just 272 students.
“I don’t think that is efficient. I don’t think anyone in this room would run a business where you have six different programs to meet the needs of 272 students within a 15-mile radius,” she said.
Philbin asked if out-placements of special education students had decreased from 7% from 2021-2022 to 2.5% in 2024-2025 why that did not result in more significant savings.
In January when Dr. Jones unveiled the proposed schools budget, she did acknowledge that decreased outplacement and the savings. Noting the average outplacement costs over $168,000, she said, “If we were still running at 7% we could expect to see approximately 60 more students, or $10 million.”
Christine Edwards said Greenwich needed to “ante up” to have the best quality teachers, education and non-academic programs to be the leaders in the state if not the nation.
“We’re so concerned with keeping our mill rate low,” Edwards said. “When I heard the comment on how wonderfully some of the Westchester schools are doing compared to Greenwich, I want you to know that the taxes I pay in Greenwich, $12,000 a year, were being paid by my cousin with the same square footage of a house for $65,000 a year,” Edwards said, adding the most important way to maintain property values was to have the best schools.
She said clubs, drama, music, sports and other enrichment were vital opportunities to help children in the college process and to maintain student mental health.
The final vote of the night was on the amended Education SOMR; 147 in favor, 37 opposed and 14 abstaining.
How did we get here?
Public School families attending the BET’s April 3 decision day meeting exploded in chants of “shame on you” after Republican BET chair Harry Fisher used his tie breaking vote to approve a reduction in the schools operating budget by $4.1 million.
A week later, at the April 1o BOE budget committee meeting, Democrats expressed alarm about the implications of the $4.1 shortfall, especially after BOE human resources director Dr. Jonathan Budd explained that due to contractual obligations, job reductions would not result in the savings some might think.
Instead, there was some talk about restoring the previous school start times for a potential $2.3 million savings by eliminating extra 23 bus routes required for GHS students to start at 8:30am instead of 7:30am.
There was also talk about eliminating the Advanced Learning Program in second grade, cutting professional development and not ordering library books.
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Greenwich Public Schools families have been vocal in their disappointment over the BET vote, penning dozens of letters to the editor urging the BET to reconsider their decision.
And although 13 people were not given a chance to speak after comments were cut off Monday night, RTM members did receive 308 messages through the online contact form – almost all of them urging a vote in favor SOMR.
Some dropped hints about consequences to BET members in the upcoming November municipal elections. Some identified themselves as Republicans in support of the SOMR.
“As an active registered Republican voter, I am deeply concerned about the cuts to the budget for our schools. While we should always be concerned with how government spends our money, these cuts are egregious. They threaten our property values and the futures of our children.” – Paul Fix
“Parents in Greenwich place a very high value on an excellent education, and voters will swiftly punish the Republican Party in this town if their kids’ educations are jeopardized. Please carefully reconsider YOUR vote.’ – Emma Garcia
“This will be the second time I have written to urge the RTM to vote YES to increase the school funding. I am a longtime local republican donor. I and those like me will NO LONGER financially support republican candidates if they do not adequately fund our public schools. We will very happily fund, for the first time in our lives, democrat candidates who share this desire.”– Jared Eglowsky
Others said the current budget was already taking a toll on education:
“The local schools are already overcrowded and in need of maintenance and essential programs for kids mental and physical health such as PE , Arts and special education will surely suffer if this budget cut goes ahead.” – Aline Slattery
“My high school student already has oversized classes in 2 of his courses this term. In Honors Chemistry there are makeshift seats at the lab tables. His teacher is wonderful, but the class size hampers critical hands on learning. In addition, AP class sections were so full that he was nearly unable to take a class he had been recommended for until an exception was made — two weeks into the term. This would have set him back irrevocably. I see his administrators, counselors and teachers working hard to deliver the high quality education GHS is capable of providing, but firmly believe that we cannot limit resources further. Nor is an earlier start time a good solution — many student-athletes, student-artists and others, fulfill critical extra curricular actives and services after school and then stay up late with homework.” – Margaret Gearhart
“If I hear the words “’we don’t have enough staff”’one more time I’m going to pull my hair out.” – Colleen Wood-Smith
There were a few emails that warned against restoring the previous school start time at GHS in order to save money.
“I was extremely disappointed to see the BET vote to cut funds from the school budget and I am even more upset to see that there is a proposal to penalize our high school kids in response, by moving start times an hour earlier. We already went through this discussion as a district some years ago and have seen huge improvements in student sleep, mood and attention at school as a result of the change. I witnessed this directly with my own two high schoolers. Now I have a third entering 9th grade next year. This is no time to go back!!”- Leora Kaufman
And there were messages putting the school budget in the context of property values and property taxes.
“The reality is that the way our budget is currently being treated reflects what I already knew – it doesn’t matter which political party you identify with, education is only important until we have to pay for it. I pay my property taxes with the understanding that I, as a single individual with no children, am paying for the education of others, the same way that those did for my own public education. We all know that $4 million in a town where the average final cost of a home is $2.5 million is nothing. Yet, the reactions of some of our leaders in the community come across like $20 million was asked for. At what point do we stop thinking only about ourselves and start thinking about what’s best for our students? At what point do we trust the guidance of those who were hired to oversee our district? I may be misinformed, but none of the board members of the BET are employed as educators… The toxicity of federal politics is seeping into our town. Please stop this in its tracks and properly fund our schools.” – Lindsey Pontieri
There was at least one letter to the RTM that defended the BET vote.
“I urge you to vote against taking up the SOMR. The BET needs to do its job – to be able set guidelines, hold departments accountable for better outcomes and manage our town’s resources for all residents.” – Jane Sprung
The vote on the amended Education SOMR: 147 in favor, 37 opposed and 14 abstaining.
After the vote, one RTM member, RTM member Anthony Moor emailed to say his Yes vote had been recorded as a No.
“On the motion to approve the SOMR calling on the BET Republicans to reopen the 2025-26 schools budget, my ‘YES’ vote was recorded as a ‘NO.’ My staunch support for fully funding the schools has never been in question and I was shocked to discover this upon returning home from the meeting. It is possible as this was the final vote of the night, that I brushed my electronic voting clicker’s no’ button as I prepared to hand my it back to the RTM clerk. And if that happened while the 1 or 2 minute voting window was still open, mine may have flipped. I am embarrassed and angry I can’t correct the record. My only solace is the vast majority of my colleagues also voted for the measure, and I apologize for my carelessness.”
See also:
April 11, 2025
BET Cuts $4.1 Million from Greenwich Schools: Audience Chants “Shame on you” April 4, 2025
Greenwich Schools Chief Rebuts RTC Chair: “This Level of Reduction Would Have Long-Lasting Consequences” April 2, 2025
Hahn: A Reasonable Compromise on the School Budget April 2, 2025