Lisa Thomson's Open Letter to Politicians

Lisa Thomson is the founder of Red Apples,  a grassroots organization dedicated to education reform in Norwalk. 

To:      Norwalk Town Political Committee Heads: Mr. Bradley and Mr. Scialabba

Mayoral Candidates: Mayor Moccia and Mr. Garfunkel

Board of Education: Current Members and Prospective Candidates

Common Council: Current Members and Prospective Candidates

I am writing to all of you as an independent citizen (like a good many of us in Norwalk) who are frustrated by the political parties’ inability or unwillingness to seriously step up to the plate with regards to education reform in our City of Norwalk.  Over the past several months, the local papers and blogs have highlighted everything from A-Z about the issues surrounding the state of our education, but I have not seen any genuine willingness by the political leaders to go beyond traditional party rhetoric, or personal attacks of opponents, on what is surely a very complicated issue. 

Please consider the following issues backed up with data on the following pages:

• ·       Norwalk is committed to educating its free and reduced lunch student population
• ·       Norwalk residents pay more to educate their children as a percentage of family income than our richer neighbors
• ·       Norwalk does not receive is fair share of ECS funding from the state despite its significant free and reduced lunch student population
•      The City of Norwalk (like cities across the US) is struggling in negotiations with the leadership of its two largest collective bargaining units on everything from job assignments, to work rules to pay despite the fact that our staff are among the highest paid in the state.

I would hate to see any of you use political party sound bites, disingenuously directed at education reform, in an effort to attack your opponents or score points with the electorate without highlighting your own platforms. Therefore, I am hoping that the papers and blogs will publish my letter and  data for the citizens of Norwalk. And, I hope that each of you, as you go forward with your campaigns,  deem it worthy to  share with the voters of Norwalk, your PLANS for dealing with these various issues in order to move education reform and the future economic vibrancy of this great city forward.

Respectfully submitted and compiled,

Lisa Thomson

Founder – Red Apples

www.redapplesnorwalk.org

Norwalk is committed to Educating Its Growing Free and Reduced Lunch Student Population

·                It’s well known that urban school districts have seen a jump in their poverty levels across the nation 

·                Norwalk’s student population has held fairly steady over the years at approximately 11,000.· 

Yet, in the past 5 years, the number of students that qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch has jumped from 2,555  students in 2005 to 4,744 in 2010.

·                This represents an increase from 23.1 % of its total student body to 43.7%.

·                13% of that student base represents English Language Learners. 

Source: Dr. Susan Marks NPS Budget 2010-11 Budget Planning

Norwalk residents pay more to educate their children as a percentage of family income than its richer neighbors.

·       Norwalk’s neighboring towns, average over twice the median family income, yet spending is consistent with these richer towns and one case is more.

City/Town	Per Pupil Spending	Median Family Income	% of Income Contribution
New Canaan	$15,711	$141,788	11%
Westport	$15,409	$119,872	13%
Wilton	$14,013	$141,428	10%
NORWALK	$13,940	$59,839	23%
Darien	$13,367	$146,755	9%

Source: Fred Wilms, Norwalk Bureau of Estimation and Taxation (07/08 data)

Norwalk does not receive its fair share of ECS funding from the State of Connecticut despite its significant free and reduced lunch student population

·             The percentage of Norwalk’s educational costs derived from Connecticut Educational Cost Sharing Grants ranks Norwalk second-to-last in the percentage category and LAST in actual revenue sharing dollars received among Connecticut’s cities as demonstrated in the following chart: 

District	% of School Revenues Provided By State	2007-2008 Budget ($ millions)	State Portion ($ millions)
Bridgeport	68.2	268	183
Danbury	69.2	119	83
Hartford	63.2	364	230
New Britain	60.4	137	83
New Haven	60.9	312	189
Norwalk	11.1	160	18
Stamford	8.8	234	21
Waterbury	56.2	232	130

Pastoral communities without apparent urban challenges often receive comparatively higher ECS support than Norwalk

District	ECS % 2007-2008
Canterbury	46.5
Canton	18.2
Hebron	35.0
Mansfield	33.3
Watertown	35.6
Wethersfield	18.5
Wolcott	44.7
Woodstock	35.4
Norwalk	11.1

Source:  Norwalk Office of the City Clerk : From Common Council ECS Resolution Regular Meeting January 25, 2011.

The City of Norwalk (like many cities across the US) is struggling in its negotiations with the leadership of its two largest collective bargaining units:  the National Federation of Teachers (NFT) and the Norwalk Association of School Administration (NASA) to close the 2011-12 school budget gap despite a tax proposed 2% tax increase from the BET to residents.  Sadly staff

Average CT State Teacher Salaries 2007-08

Dist #	Districts	Average FTE  Teacher Salary	State Rank
57	Greenwich	$75,499	1
103	Norwalk	$74,229	2
161	Wilton	$73,307	3
118	Ridgefield	$72,457	4
4	Avon	$71,989	5
135	Stamford	$71,214	6
209	Region09	$70,715	7
157	Weston	$70,347	8
51	Fairfield	$69,880	9
117	Redding	$69,404	10
90	New Canaan	$69,208	11
158	Westport	$66,786	18
35	Darien	$66,204	24
15	Bridgeport	$60,988	68

Source: CT State Department of Education (website staff data 4/21/10)

·       Norwalk Teacher Insurance Coverages Are the Best “Norwalk teachers have medical, dental, vision and life insurance coverages  and benefits that are unparalleled  in each category and collectively in the state and nation.”  Source: January 2010, The Vanguard NFT Newsletter, Bruce Mellion, President

Bargaining Unit	No. of Employees	Average Salary	Average Years of Service
Executives	4	$ 172,370	10.6
Administration	58	$ 137,435	9.4
Teachers	902	$ 81,158	12.0

Source: Norwalk Board of Education 2/17/2011