Education budget increased by $1.1 million at Killingly annual town meeting: What happens now?
After about five hours and speeches from many teachers, students and citizens, two changes were made to the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 at Killingly's annual town meeting May 5.
The first change was to reduce the general government budget by $13,500 by eliminating town councilor stipends. That motion was approved, with 87 votes in favor of the reduction and 62 opposed. With this change, the proposed general government budget is now $23,629,755.
In addition, $1.1 million was added to the education budget. The motion to increase the education budget passed, with 117 votes in favor of the increase and 37 opposed. Now, the proposed education budget totals $49,038,817.
The major point of contention at Killingly's annual town meeting was the proposed education budget.
In a letter to parents and guardians, Killingly Public Schools Superintendent Susan Nash-Ditzel and Board of Education Chair Susan Lannon wrote that seven people would lose their jobs and 24 positions in the district would be eliminated if the education budget initially proposed at the town meeting was approved. In addition to the staff cuts, facilities, transportation, athletics and information technology budgets were all slated to be reduced had the initial education budget passed.
Community members stepped in at the annual town meeting to ensure the school budget was raised.
'Let's be honest, once positions are cut, they are never coming back,' said Jennifer Thompson, a parent in the Killingly Public School District. 'As a parent, we have always told our children we want them to be better than us and being better than us comes from and through educational and extracurricular opportunities.'
Robert Polselli, a robotics coach as well as an engineering and technology teacher at Killingly High School, said the cuts would have lasting effects on students.
'Larger class sizes, fewer opportunities and diminished resources will absolutely affect the quality of education and the preparedness of our students, not just for college, but for life,' he said.
Now, the budget will be voted on at the referendum May 13.
A sample ballot was posted on the Town of Killingly's website May 6. Four questions appear on the ballot.
The first question is: 'Shall the General Government Budget for the Town of Killingly, Connecticut, in the amount $23,629,755 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026 be approved?' The next question is a follow-up question to the first, and asks 'For voters who voted 'NO' on Question #1a 'Is the Budget Too High?' or 'Is the Budget Too Low?'
Then, the ballot asks: 'Shall the Education Budget for the Town of Killingly, Connecticut, in the amount of $49,038,817 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026 be approved?' Like the question on the general government budget, the follow-up question is 'For voters who voted 'NO' on Question #2a Is the Budget Too High?' or 'Is the Budget Too Low?'
Voters in districts 1,3 and 5 will vote in the board of education central office, located at 79 Westfield Ave. Voters in districts 2 and 4 will vote at Killingly High School. The polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Absentee ballots for the budget referendum became available May 6. Those interested in obtaining an absentee ballot should contact the Killingly town clerk at 860-779-5307 as soon as possible. All ballots must be issued in person according to Connecticut General Statutes.
This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Education budget increases $1.1 million at Killingly annual town meeting
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
36 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Here's what to know about American Samoans in Alaska who are being prosecuted after trying to vote
WHITTIER, Alaska — They were born on U.S. soil, are entitled to U.S. passports and allowed to serve in the U.S. military, but 11 people in a small Alaska town are facing criminal charges after they tried to participate in a fundamental part of American democracy: voting. The defendants, who range in age from their 20s to their 60s, were all born in American Samoa — the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship at birth. Prosecutors say they falsely claimed American citizenship when registering or trying to vote.
Washington Post
37 minutes ago
- Washington Post
How Trump finally got the military parade he always wanted
On June 12, 2024, a day when Joe Biden was still president, running for reelection, and had every expectation of serving a second term, the U.S. Army filed a permit in the hopes of celebrating its 250th birthday on the National Mall the following year. The event would involve as many as 300 soldiers and civilian personnel. There would be a concert by the U.S. Army Band. Four cannons would be fired. Some 120 chairs would be set up. All told, it would be a fairly modest affair, another event on a summer's day on the national lawn, a few weeks before Fourth of July festivities would bring a much grander display. Then President Donald Trump was elected — and plans for the day changed dramatically. More than two dozen tanks will now roll through the city, and 50 helicopters will fly overhead. Thousands of troops, many in period costume from past wars, will participate, and several musical acts will perform. All told, it amounts to the grandest event since Trump took office for his second term, a spectacle that federal government and military officials have maneuvered to fulfill an ambitious and grandiose vision for celebrating the country and its military. The large-scale military parade is the result of a confluence of interests: a president who has long pushed for the kind of grand pageant he'd witnessed in other countries, and a military that was now willing to show off its might. For a president who loves crowds, who relishes big displays of heavy equipment and whose inauguration was pushed indoors because of cold weather, everything has fallen in place for an event set to take place on June 14 — Trump's 79th birthday. The Pentagon is now under the control of loyalists, and the guardrails previously in place are gone. There is also a more obvious reason to hold a parade now: the Army's 250th anniversary. 'The Army was pushing on an unlocked door,' said a U.S. official familiar with the parade planning efforts, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. The year-long effort, and the growing ambition of the past few months, will culminate next weekend with a few lingering uncertainties: how many people will show up; whether Democratic 'No Kings' protests planned across the country will dampen enthusiasm for the main event; and whether it will live up to the president's expectations. Eight years ago during his first term, Trump went to France and stood with President Emmanuel Macron to watch that nation's July 14 Bastille Day celebration. French troops marched down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, along with military tanks, armored vehicles and fighter jets painting the sky with blue, white and red smoke while flying over the Arc de Triomphe. He told aides afterward that he wanted something similar at home. 'It was one of the greatest parades I've ever seen,' Trump told reporters two months later when meeting Macron at the United Nations. 'It was two hours on the button, and it was military might, and I think a tremendous thing for France and for the spirit of France.' And then he had a boast: 'We're going to have to try to top it.' In 2018, his public and private musings about a military parade became more of a presidential directive. Pentagon officials began trying to figure out how they could pull it off. Even before taking office, he had wanted to find ways to showcase American military might. 'We're going to show the people as we build up our military,' Trump said in an interview with The Washington Post before his first inauguration in January 2017. 'That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades. I mean, we're going to be showing our military.' But the idea had long been viewed as cost-prohibitive and not necessary for a global superpower. It also ran against an American tradition of avoiding public displays of martial strength more common in authoritarian regimes, such as the former Soviet Union's Red Square celebrations or North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's penchant for showing off his country's missiles. Still, President Harry S. Truman's 1949 inauguration parade featured military equipment, as did President John F. Kennedy's in 1961. President George H.W. Bush oversaw a parade in 1991 celebrating victory in the first Persian Gulf War, with Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf leading 8,800 veterans of Operation Desert Storm down Constitution Avenue. But Trump, in his first term, never got his parade. Officials at the Pentagon wanted to keep away from politics. Jim Mattis, Trump's first defense secretary, said it would 'harken back to Soviet Union-like displays of authoritarian power' but said he would look into it, according to 'Holding the Line,' a 2019 book by a former Mattis aide and retired Navy pilot, Guy Snodgrass. In private, Snodgrass recalled in his book, Mattis was more blunt in his opposition: 'I'd rather swallow acid.' Mattis, who has previously voiced disappointment in Snodgrass for violating his trust, declined to comment. After Mattis resigned in December 2018, Trump held a grandiose 'Salute to America' in Washington with military flyovers — but still no parade. The Army usually celebrates its birthday with a festival at the National Museum of the United States Army, across the Potomac River at Fort Belvoir, near George Washington's Mount Vernon. The event typically features equipment displays, an aerial parachute demonstration and a performance by an Army band. With the 250th anniversary coming in 2025, however, Army officials knew they wanted something with a little more pizzazz. 'The thinking was: Let's take the festival to the National Mall so that it's easier for the public to participate,' said Paul Hadwiger, live events project manager at the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. Gen. Randy George, the Army's top officer, and his team began discussing how they might structure the event, said Col. David Butler, a spokesman and adviser for the general. The initial permit filed last year, which Butler said was submitted as a 'foothold' to make sure something would happen, reflected the smaller-scale event initially envisioned. They estimated a maximum number of participants at 300, including soldiers and civilian personnel. They needed 10 portable restrooms, a stage and two jumbotrons. 'If it grew, it grew,' Hadwiger said. 'But we didn't know that it would.' When Trump won the election, though, they had a sense that change was in the air. White House officials say that Trump always wanted a grand celebration for the country's 250th anniversary, and the parade is something of a kickoff to the wider series of events next year. The week after he was inaugurated, he signed an executive order creating Task Force 250 to begin the planning. By mid-February, George, the Army chief of staff, and his team went to the White House and made a bigger pitch to Trump administration officials: It was time, Army officials suggested, to hold a 'national-level' event of some kind to mark the birthday. Army officials were not initially sure whether Trump and senior White House advisers would be receptive to the idea. When the pitch was greeted with enthusiasm, brainstorming began in earnest, with suggestions for a parade, fireworks, a performance by the Army's Golden Knights parachute team and other demonstrations. The White House green-lit nearly all of the ideas, and Trump added some of his own. 'The president has requested aircraft and other military equipment to fully capture the might of our American military,' said a White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide detail on the planning. The official said that ever since Trump won in November, the plan was for a military parade to mark the Army's anniversary. George, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, has undertaken the project enthusiastically, Butler said. 'We're treating it like any other operation, combat or otherwise,' Butler said, indicating that considerations must be paid to make sure the event has appropriate safety precautions and logistical support. Two Army officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said in separate interviews that the service is aware of the connection that some critics have made to Trump's birthday — and disappointed by it. One of the officials said that early in the planning process at the White House, an Army official noted that the parade would occur on Trump's birthday. But service officials left that meeting with the impression that Trump actually did not want his birthday highlighted, the Army official said. Army officials said there were no plans to sing 'Happy Birthday' to Trump or officially acknowledge his birthday during the parade. 'Never been brought up and not part of the plan,' said Col. Chris Vitale, the officer overseeing the parade and other celebrations related to the Army's 250th. Trump, speaking on NBC's 'Meet the Press' last month, said that the event is 'not for my birthday' but that there would be a 'big, beautiful parade' to celebrate the military. Doing so, he said, would cost 'peanuts compared to the value of doing it.' 'We have the greatest missiles in the world,' Trump said. 'We have the greatest submarines in the world. We have the greatest Army tanks in the world. We have the greatest weapons in the world. And we're going to celebrate it.' The Army's suggestion to hold a national event to mark its birthday coincided with the president and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth firing senior military officers early in the administration, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the top officers in the Navy and Coast Guard. Unofficial lists of other military leaders who could be fired circulated widely on Capitol Hill, with little clarity whom Trump might target. Butler, George's spokesman, rejected any suggestion that the Army's embrace of a military parade had anything to do with that. 'We're on the record: No one was pitching a national event to save their job,' Butler said. The celebration has continued to grow over recent months. It now is expected to include 28 Abrams tanks, 28 Stryker combat vehicles, 28 Bradley Fighting Vehicles, an array of other vehicles and 6,700 soldiers from across the country. The estimated cost is about $45 million, Army officials have said — a flash point as the service cuts programs to fund new Trump priorities. The Army has vowed to foot the bill for any damage to city streets, with local officials particularly worried they'll be chewed up by tanks. Reagan National Airport will halt takeoffs and landings for up to several hours, and waterways on the Potomac will be closed. The parade will take place along Constitution Avenue between 15th and 23rd streets. On Friday, preparations were underway for the event. Crews along Constitution Avenue NW worked on what looked like a platform just south of the White House. A stage was under construction just off the Ellipse, the federally controlled park south of the White House. It remains unclear how organizers are planning to build a crowd for the event. Army spokesperson Cynthia Smith said they were using their website, social media, media coverage and partnerships with sports teams to drum up awareness. 'We've focused on the four-hour radius around D.C. That is really where we are marketing,' Smith said, adding that participating Army units around the country are spreading the word in their own communities. She said the Army is also 'partnering with third-party influencers,' but she was unable to provide a list of names because the computer system was down. Recruitment ads have also popped up on the D.C. Metro saying: 'Explore 250+ Army careers. Meet us June 14th on The National Mall.' Destination DC, the city's main tourism organization, published an online FAQ guide to the 250th celebration. Tucked among guidance on Metro station closures, scheduling logistics and ticket information is the question, 'Is this a political event?' The response: 'No. The celebration is focused on the Army's 250 years of service to the country — not on politics. The day honors Soldiers past and present and highlights the Army's role in American history.' 'President Trump is looking forward to celebrating the U.S. Army's birthday as part of the year-long celebration for America's 250th anniversary,' said Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary. 'This parade will honor all of the military men and women who have bravely served our country, including those who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend our freedom.' While officials have downplayed Trump's birthday, the president is expected to be at the center of attention. The Golden Knights are planning to parachute onto the Ellipse and present an American flag to the president. Trump will also enlist and reenlist 250 recruits and soldiers. Federal workers have been told to work remotely so that soldiers can sleep in their offices downtown. Flights will be delayed and streets blocked. There may be frustration in the air in some corners, but the tanks will soon be on their way. Dan Merica contributed to this report.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Trump vs. Harvard has international athletes scrambling for answers
Not long after President Donald Trump's first attempt to bar Harvard from enrolling international students last month, the school's men's soccer team, along with athletic teams all over campus, received a note from the coaching staff. They were monitoring the situation, the coaches said. The school was monitoring it, too. Everyone, it seemed, was monitoring a situation that had gone haywire in mid-May, but that provided no immediate clarity on what it meant for athletes with student visas. Could they stay at Harvard, for their classes and for next season? Could the seniors graduate? How about going home to visit their families this summer? 'It's the type of thing that creates this general feeling of uncertainty and unease and tension around campus,' said Jan Riecke, who was a senior captain on last season's team and graduated last month. (Riecke lived in Switzerland and Germany before attending Harvard, but he was born in the United States to German parents and is a U.S. citizen). 'It's a tension among students, among professors, because it's not just the people who are directly affected, the international students and athletes, but also your teammates and coaches, right? You play and train next to them, so you obviously feel for the fact that they are worried. They are worried about their futures.' A day after the coaches sent that message, Harvard sued the Trump administration to maintain its ability to enroll international students. A judge twice ruled in Harvard's favor, most recently blocking the Department of Homeland Security's order while the legal process plays out. But on Wednesday evening, Trump doubled down, suspending entry into the United States for any new Harvard students or exchange visitors with F, M or J visas. The next steps came in a now-familiar rhythm: By Thursday, Harvard had amended its legal complaint. By Friday morning, a federal judge had ruled with Harvard again, blocking the president's latest order, which attempts to reject Harvard-sponsored visas. The back-and-forth continues. But despite any temporary relief, the political battle has clouded the present and short-term future for some of Harvard's athletes and teams. For the 2024-25 academic year, 139 athletes listed international hometowns on team rosters, accounting for 17 percent of all athletes on those squads, according to a Washington Post analysis. The analysis included only Harvard's NCAA championship sports, plus women's rugby, which is one of the NCAA's emerging sports meant to provide opportunities to women. Harvard has several other programs, such as squash and sailing, meaning the uncertainty reaches even further. Some athletes listing international hometowns could, like Riecke, be U.S. citizens and therefore not dependent on the status of student visas. Based on hometowns, in the past two semesters, Harvard athletes represented roughly three dozen countries, Canada and Britain by far the most common. Ten out of 30 men's soccer players last season had international hometowns listed. Other teams, including women's soccer and field hockey, had even more athletes from abroad. On seven Harvard teams in The Post's analysis, athletes with international hometowns accounted for more than 30 percent of the roster. Those teams would struggle to compete without them. An athletic department spokesman declined to make any officials available for an interview, pointing The Post to university statements calling Trump's attacks illegal and retaliatory. More than a half dozen coaches and dozens of current and recently graduated Harvard athletes did not respond or declined to comment, including several who cited fears of retaliation from the Trump administration. Across NCAA sports in 2023-24, roughly 7 percent of D-I athletes were not U.S. citizens, according to the NCAA's demographics data. And while international athletes still fill a small fraction of D-I rosters, their share has grown by more than 40 percent since 2011-12, the first academic year included in the NCAA's public data, which is self-reported by schools. In the eight-school Ivy League, the share of NCAA athletes who are not U.S. citizens has nearly doubled since 2012, jumping to 6 percent in 2024. But the proportion of international athletes in the conference slightly trails the overall Division I mark. (The NCAA does not publish demographic data aggregated by school, and Harvard declined to provide data on how many of its athletes are not U.S. citizens.) 'This is not exclusively a Harvard issue,' said Ksenia Maiorova, a leading sports immigration attorney. 'This is something that has the potential to have tentacles in other spaces. What we're seeing is that the administration feels comfortable weaponizing the student visa for its goals of political retribution against a particular institution.' As much as possible, Harvard treats its athletes like all other students on campus, meaning any pressing visa questions have been routed to the school's international office. 'We don't have an academic services office just for student-athletes, we don't have housing just for student-athletes, so we also don't have an international office just for student-athletes,' said one school official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss this issue. 'And that international office, as you can imagine, is very, very busy providing support to all students.' But it's not just Harvard's current international athletes who are affected by the confusion and escalating policies. Incoming freshmen from other countries are feeling uneasy. So, too, are international recruits who were considering Harvard and are now having second thoughts. Lars Blenckers is a co-founder of Plus31 Sports, a company that mostly guides international field hockey and soccer players through the recruiting process with U.S. colleges. While he's not working with any current Harvard athletes, he does have two field hockey players who are supposed to enroll and begin training in August. One is from South Africa, the other from New Zealand. Naturally, on the same day Harvard coaches were scrambling to contact their international athletes, Blenckers started hearing from the players' parents. His phone has been buzzing almost nonstop since. The parents are asking whether their daughters can still attend Harvard, he said. If not, they're wondering whether they could defer a year and try again next summer, when the political turmoil will have hopefully died down. The athlete from South Africa has secured her student visa. The athlete from New Zealand, however, is still trying to schedule an appointment, another major complication. In late May, the U.S. State Department paused appointments for student or exchange visitor (F, M and J) visas. 'That system is just completely blocked now, so you cannot even go online and book any appointment,' Blenckers said of his athlete from New Zealand. 'So it's also very uncertain that even if Harvard is allowed to accept international students, can these athletes get their visas in time?' Pedro Mol is the CEO of Slamstox, a Netherlands-based company that also helps international athletes land opportunities with U.S. colleges. In the past few months, many families he works with have soured on not just Harvard but all Ivy League schools. Columbia remains in Trump's crosshairs. Maiorova, the sports immigration attorney, listed California-Berkeley, Michigan and the Ivies as the archetype of schools that could lose high-level athletes because of clashes with the president. Mol, a Netherlands native and a former Division I athlete, said he had a male tennis player flip his choice from Harvard to Georgia Tech this year. At Georgia Tech, the athlete would receive an athletic scholarship, which Ivy League schools don't offer. There would also be a better chance of earning name, image and likeness (NIL) money, because the Ivy League has been slow to warm to athletes earning money beyond small endorsement deals. 'And there just isn't the same political uncertainty there,' Mol said. 'The media here in Holland is pretty obsessed with Trump. Everything he does right now, it is blasted all over, so we obviously get a ton of questions. We do a monthly newsletter, and recently we did one on how Trump's orders affect our athletes. It was our most read ever by far.' After graduation in late May, Riecke, the former men's soccer captain, set out on a European trip with some of his teammates. As a last hurrah, they wanted to show each other the countries they grew up in. It has made Riecke think about the efforts to remove international students and athletes from Harvard, which would have made it impossible for him to make lifelong friends from other cultures. He hopes the worst developments have passed. 'It's brought people together as well,' Riecke said. 'You feel like you just pat someone on the shoulder once more than you would before, tell them: 'Hey, hopefully it's going to be all right. We're here for you.' I think that's the response we've gotten from a lot of the community.'
