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Support Our Public Education

On April 25, the East Haven Town Council convened to vote on the adoption of our Town and Board of Education budget. Since I was elected to the council in 2019, I’ve been advocating for additional education funding. Our public school system serves over 2,700 students and their families. East Haven doesn’t have any private or charter schools. High-achieving students can’t be cherry-picked to pad performance data. Our eight public schools accept all kids, regardless of special education needs, disabilities, or socio-economic backgrounds. We should be proud of this. It is our local government’s responsibility to serve our community wholly and without bias. But that also presents challenges.

Over the past decade, our teachers and paraeducators have suffered through austerity budgets, lopsided contract negotiations, and a global pandemic that upended our modern education system. In these past three years alone, we’ve lost nearly a third of our educators to retirement or higher-paying districts. But this moment feels like a turning point.

Mayor Joseph Carfora’s budget reflects the values of this community. I applaud him and his administration for making crucial investments in our public education while maintaining vital town services without raising the mill rate. Public schools are every municipality’s most valuable resource. They’re how families choose where to buy their homes and raise their children. My fellow Democrats on the council and I voted in favor of the budget because we support our public education system. We support Mayor Carfora’s vision for this community. And we believe East Haven deserves forward-thinking leadership.

Kim Glassman

East Haven