It's Working!

The Hamden Town Council is truly feeling the pressure from their constituents this year. We are sure to have a record turn out of parents and townspeople concerned that inadequate funding for the Board of Ed will force them to lay off several teachers, cut programs and maybe even close a school.

The PTA is vehemently opposed to any such measures and encourages those in agreement to speak at tonight's hearing.

You will need to arrive early to sign up to speak; signup isfrom 6 – 6:30.

For those unfamiliar with the process, the hearing will be in Council Chambers in the Town Hall, on corner of Whitney and Dixwell. The Council will hear comments but not respond. They will continue to deliberate and massage numbers until mid May.

Continue to write and call your state legislators about funding and the "55% rule"*; that’s working, too. You can find them at http://www.cga.ct.gov/ or call 800-842-8267.

Thank you for your efforts to be involved and involve other parents inthe process. Please keep up the good work and I’ll see you allWednesday night.

Marjorie

*The 55% rule governs how much money per pupil Hamden gets for students we send to Wintergreen Interdistrict Magnet School (WIMS). The State gives other districts $8000 per pupil, but Hamden only gets $3000 per pupil, because Hamden students make up more than 55% of the student body. At last count there are five different bills between the CT House and Senate that would give Hamden the additional $5000 per pupil as long as we worked to reduce our participation in the next year or two. At 400 students, that equals $2 million of funding.

S.B.464 - Sponsored by Sen. Crisco
S.B.476 & S.B. 481- Sponsored by Sen. Looney
H.B. 5047 - Sponsard by Rep. Jankowski
H.B. 5766 - Sponsored by Reps. Sharkey, Esty, Villano & Staples.
More info at www.cga.ct.gov