Simsbury Board of Finance Meeting March 10, 2026

Board of Finance March 10, 2026

Over the years the Board of Education’s budget has increased with the inclusion of Special Education.
When the State mandated that all schools must include all students in the classrooms, taxes to support these services increased.

With that mandate came Special Education

There was a need for additional staff to meet the needs of each child under this inclusion policy.

As the needs grew, so did the additional staff to supply the services needed to accomplish that task.

Many students with emotional needs were disruptive in a class setting and needed special services within the school building, outside the classroom.

Costs started to escalate as other outside organizations and services were needed to address the issues.

Unregulated cost containment added to increase.

Special Education has become Special Services, that should be regulated and maintained by the State, not the schools.

Schools are not equipped to deal with Mental Illness.

Tax dollars should be used for education, not special individualized services.

The mandate for inclusion initiated this progression of services, another mandate can remove it from inclusion in education.

The Simsbury Board of Education budget reflects about 50 paraeducators, Social Workers, Occupational Therapist, Psychologist, New Path Social Worker, Director of Equity & Access, Special Education Tutor, Supervisors and others.

These Services require additional staff at taxpayers’ expense, that should be decreased.

School Superintendents from each Town should lobby the Governor to remove mandates for Special Education and develop programs to service the children with special needs at the State level and transfer the costs to the State.

The schools should not be a Social Service organization but should use the tax dollars to provide a quality education for the students where they can learn in a safe and nourishing environment.

Teachers should be educators providing quality education to the students, not wrapped up in all the ancillary activities that are now mandated.

I provided a link to the faculty and staff directory for review.

https://www.simsbury.k12.ct.us/family-resources/faculty-staff-directory

These changes will take time , but we must start deregulating mandates as they have become a burden to taxpayers.

To cut costs, the Board of Education should start redistricting with the 6^th grade incorporated into the Henry James Junior High, grades K-2, in two schools and grades 3-5 in two school, leaving one school vacant, lowering overhead costs.

It is time to think “out-of-the-box and address the challenges we will all face in the future.