Oh, First Selectman, hear my plea,
With budgets balanced so carefully.
You wave your pen, you crunch, subtract—
Yet somehow, facts don’t quite add back.
You preach of fiscal discipline,
Yet schools must lose so the Town can win?
Your $4.9 million cut’s too deep,
It won’t even fund the teachers we keep!
The teachers, bound by fair accord,
Signed deals this Town Hall once could afford!
Yet now you claim, with budget tight,
That students must endure this slight?
I ask you, sir, with furrowed brow:
Where will this magic cut fall now?
On books? On STEAM? On teachers’ pay?
On heat and lights? On kids’ school day?
Perhaps we’ll stretch each book and dime,
While hearing “cuts will be just fine.”
Yet budgets speak, and let’s be clear—
Our kids deserve full funding here.
So, First Selectman, be ye wise,
Drop the axe—open your eyes.
For budgets aren’t just numbers cold,
They shape the future—young and bold.
And when you stand to make this cut,
Remember who’ll be left in ruts.
It won’t be banks or roads or halls—
It’s kids inside these schoolhouse walls.
So spare us, please, these budget blues,
And try some math you can’t refuse:
Investing in our schools today,
Will make Fairfield thrive in every way.
The Fairfield Public Schools budget is working its way through other Town bodies. The First Selectman has proposed a $4.9 million dollar reduction in the budget passed by the Board of Education. Six high school teachers have been eliminated from next year’s budget. Reductions in bussing and the elimination of STEAM and Spanish from the elementary school curriculum have been proposed to make up the gap. These cuts are not enough to make up a $4.9 million shortfall. I hope the Board of Selectman will restore funding to our school system, when they vote on Monday.
I encourage all town residents to advocate for this year’s school budget by sending emails to the Board of Selectman before Monday. Email Board of Selectman bos@fairfieldct.org. Carbon copy the Board of Education boemembers@fairfieldschools.org.
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Greg Bosch is a 14-year resident in the Town of Fairfield, father of two children at Stratfield Elementary, and PTA Representative for Stratfield.