Category Archives: Local politics

An informed electorate is the greatest bulwark of democracy.

Westporters understand this is a very important election. “06880” is doing our part, to help Westporters understand candidates’ perspectives on a variety of issues.

Once a week, between now and Election Day, we’ll ask the men and women running for 3 important boards — Selectmen/women, Planning & Zoning, and Education — one specific question.

We’ll print their responses verbatim.

This week’s question for the Board of Education is:

Our schools are the reason many families move here. They are also the biggest part of the town budget, with salaries and benefits accounting for the lion’s share of educational expenses. What is the Board of Education’s role in balancing residents’ expectations for their schools, with economic realities?

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Robert Harrington (incumbent) was not endorsed for re-election by the Republican Town Committee. He is running as a write-in independent candidate. He says:

As Westport continues to invest in top-tier education, the Board of Education must ensure every dollar strengthens classrooms — not bureaucracy.

The Board of Education plays a vital role in balancing Westport’s high expectations for its schools with financial realities. While the Superintendent develops the budget based on his priorities and vision, the Board’s duty is to provide oversight — to ensure every dollar is spent wisely and directed toward student learning, classroom resources and program quality.

Robert Harrington

To frame the discussion, the Westport Public Schools operating budget for 2025–26 is approximately $150 million. Of that, certified staff salaries make up nearly $80 million (52.6%), and non-certified staff salaries another $19.5 million (13%). Combined, salaries represent more than 65% of the total budget.

Employee benefits — including medical and dental coverage, life insurance, Social Security/Medicare, etc. — add another $25.78 million (about 17%).

In plain English: nearly 83% of our entire operating budget goes toward the people who make our schools exceptional. That’s not a problem — it’s what drives excellence. Investing in teachers, administrators and staff allows Westport to maintain one of the top school districts in Connecticut, and the #1 high school in the state.

But because so much of the budget is tied to salaries and benefits, the board must ensure that new positions are added thoughtfully and that classroom priorities remain clear.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen above-inflation increases in our operating budget — driven by post-COVID adjustments and rising healthcare costs. Westport’s funding bodies have been generous and continue to support our schools, but with that support comes responsibility.

In August, the board voted to extend the superintendent’s contract early and grant a 4% raise. I voted against.

This was larger than what our nurses and custodians received. I believe that decision was poorly timed and poorly perceived. Some justified it as “a small amount of money,” but that misses the point. Leadership decisions send signals — and those signals matter.

The Board also has a duty to identify efficiencies and savings outside of the classroom — not at the expense of teaching, the arts, or athletics, but through smart management elsewhere.

I have been vocal about addressing transportation costs, which were approaching $8 million (excluding special education). Several years ago, there was little appetite to explore savings, and I was told my approach was “too chaotic.”

I persisted and pushed for a transportation study that had previously been voted down. For 2025–26, we are finally reducing two bus routes — saving over $300,000 — and exploring AI-assisted route planning to find further efficiencies.

I was also an early advocate for redistricting—not as a cost-saving measure, but to ensure that classroom space is used equitably across the district. It was difficult to justify spending on new portable classrooms when open classrooms already existed in other schools. My goal was simple: to prevent overcrowding in one school while underutilizing others. It wasn’t popular, but it was the right thing to do.

Our role, ultimately, is to safeguard both excellence and accountability — to make sure Westport continues to deliver an outstanding education while respecting the taxpayers who make it possible.

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Two Democrats will be on the ballot as petitioning candidates, having secured over 400 signatures. Jodi Harris and Stephen Shackelford say:

The district’s budget must respect separate but distinct stakeholders: residents whose children currently attend the public schools and deserve the very best service and programming, and those who have watched their children graduate or who have moved to Westport for everything but the schools, and need to protect their most valuable asset (their home) and pay reasonable taxes.

To be sure, the $150 million annual budget for schools seems generous. But more than 80 percent of that is contractual: salaries and benefits for our hardworking teachers and school staff.

What’s left can’t begin to cover building updates, curriculum and program enhancements, and the modernization demanded of a 21st-century school system. It just can’t.

Stephen Shackelford and Jodi Harris

So despite their best intentions, the district and BOE are left playing Whac-a-Mole, repairing things here, replacing things there, often only after a problem has gone from bad to worse, instead of tackling the district’s needs in a truly holistic, top-down, forward-thinking approach.

A few examples: The Staples auditorium hasn’t been touched in more than 30 years. Much of it is original and over 60 years old. The lighting mechanism got stuck on the stage last spring, rendering the auditorium inoperable for 6 weeks.

The Staples football field was built for a population of around 1,400, and now we’re at 1,700 and climbing. The stands are too small, bent and even wobbly in sections. The “away side” is cramped, dark, and surrounded by brush. The sound system is broken, there is no handicapped access or seating, and there are no bathrooms.

What’s more, Staples has no working girls’ locker room. Girls’ teams change in hallway bathrooms.

And we all know what happened after Coleytown Middle and Long Lots were neglected … and now Coleytown Elementary is reported to be close behind.

Kings Highway has a basement gymnasium and cafeteria that don’t meet ADA requirements. Concerns abound within the special-education system. Additionally, the district remains woefully short on substitutes and paraprofessionals.

A facilities committee meeting — the first since January — was quickly scheduled just recently, in response to many of these growing concerns. But wouldn’t everyone benefit from year-round follow-through — not just during campaign season?

So how do we address buildings and staffing while remaining fiscally responsible, forward-thinking and adaptable? First, we have to identify issues that haven’t made their way to the BOE yet, and then we have to do the hard work of creating real budgets for dealing with all of them, so we can make intelligent trade-offs, in both timing and funding, across our whole portfolio of problems.

Second, we have to find the money to tackle these projects. One solution we propose for consideration is a public-private partnership in which the district would accept outside donations.

This hinges on the district — in concert with the First Selectman’s office — approving the consideration of features like naming rights. Imagine a capital improvement campaign that allows our cherished alumni, current families and future graduates to make meaningful financial contributions in exchange for a named brick, plaque, or even an entire structure? How else does a public school district — even one the caliber of Westport — find the vast funds that are absolutely necessary to fix up its crown jewels?

Of course, nobody has a monopoly on knowing where the problems lie, or what the best solutions are. Our doors are open to all stakeholders who are ready to flag problems and propose solutions, and that’s exactly how we will operate if you elect us — people with new ideas, new experiences, new connections, and renewed passion for our kids and their education — to the BOE.

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Democratic Party-endorsed candidate Abby Tolan (incumbent) says:

Westport’s schools consistently receive top ratings, because we hire the best administrators and teachers. Keeping top quality employees in our schools is no different from any other industry. It requires competitive compensation and comprehensive healthcare benefits. 

Salaries and healthcare expenditures represent approximately 80% of the district’s operating budget. Staff salaries rise incrementally every year (usually between 3% and 4%). As for many families, it is the escalating cost of healthcare, both in premiums and claims, that exerts the greatest pressure and unpredictability on our budget.

Abby Tolan

For the 2025–2026 fiscal year, healthcare costs could have increased by as much as 40% with the private health insurance plan employees were on. However, by partnering with employees, the district was able to transition them to the State Partnership Plan, limiting our increase to 11%. 

While this is still a big increase, we could not have achieved these savings without the trust and willingness of the employees to move insurance plans. Our administration has this trust because we treat our employees fairly, and compensate them at rates that are competitive with other outstanding districts.

In the same vein, this administration has been transparent about our budgetary pressures, and responsive to other town governing bodies by not producing a padded budget. The Board of Education presented a responsible budget to the Board of Finance and the RTM for fiscal year 2025-2026, and they approved that budget unanimously.

Against this backdrop, we must still preserve essential programming and maintain robust staffing levels, additional qualities that make our schools so successful.

Doing so, however, requires making difficult budgetary choices, such as the decision not to reinstate a second full-time assistant principal in our elementary schools. While our principals presented thoughtful and compelling arguments in favor of reinstatement, it would have added approximately $400,000 to the budget.

I ultimately concluded that wasn’t the most prudent way to spend taxpayer dollars. Reinstating such positions would have necessitated cuts elsewhere in the budget. I didn’t want to sacrifice any of Westport’s schools’ exceptional academic programs, breadth of student opportunities, talented educators, or unwavering commitment to excellence in teaching and learning.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the proliferation of technology use, we have seen a marked increase in mental health concerns emerging even at the elementary level.

Nationwide, districts are witnessing an increase in students requiring special education services, often linked to mental health challenges that can result in costly outplacements to specialized schools.

Westport is not immune to this.  In response, the board has advanced initiatives such as “Effective School Solutions” (ESS), which enables the delivery of curriculum to students in the middle and high school rather than at an expensive outplacement. This program has been so successful that there are plans to expand ESS to the elementary level. 

Balancing fiscal responsibility with our enduring commitment to educational excellence is an inherently complex endeavor. We must continue to invest in programs and support systems that promote student success, foster emotional well-being, and ensure access to resources, all while exercising prudent stewardship of public funds. Through collaboration and thoughtful governance, we can sustain and strengthen the tradition of excellence that defines Westport’s schools for generations to come.

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Republican Party-endorsed candidates Dorie Hordon (incumbent), Michelle Hopson, Andy Frankel and Kaitlin Zucaro say: 

Our schools are often the main reason families choose Westport. They are a source of pride and the cornerstone of our community.

From a financial perspective, all taxpayers — even Westporters without children in our schools — have a direct economic interest in high quality schools. When a young family buys a house in Westport, they are not just buying a building and land. They’re also buying access to a top K-12 education. That access is reflected in the value of every home in town.

Of course, nothing in life is truly free — our schools are funded by property taxes. And the fact that our excellent schools underpin our property values does not mean we should spend recklessly on them.  To the contrary, we need to sustain funding for our great school system — but do it in the smartest way possible, spending wisely.

Michelle Hopson, Dorie Hordon, Kaitlin Zucaro, Andy Frankel.

Indeed, education accounts for more than 60% of the town budget. Salaries and benefits represent the vast majority of the school system operating budget. In fact, in fiscal year 2024-2025, salaries and benefits combined were $114 million — 80% of the total education budget.

This is why the incumbent Democrat majority’s decision to accept the recent above-inflation raises for the superintendent and other administrators was so irresponsible. Such decisions set unsustainable precedents, and put the town’s long-term financial health at risk.

Vice chair Dorie Hordon of our slate was the board member who was the most vocal opponent of these raises, and led opposition within the Board — but to no avail.

The motion passed 5-2. This illustrates why a change of leadership is needed at the board level, and why we urge you to vote for all 4, and elect our slate to bring accountability and fiscal responsibility back to our schools.

In addition, voters may not realize that board members are directly involved in negotiations with both unions and non-unionized employees within the district. Along with Dorie’s direct experience, our slate brings a high level of legal and financial expertise to these negotiation challenges and the budgeting process overall.

Our commitment to voters is to be laser-focused on making sound decisions about resource allocation. In terms of pay raises, we believe they should be reasonable and fair — but should not create precedents where the district is locked into unsustainably high pay increases year over year.

Professional development is another spending area that requires close scrutiny, as it also reduces instructional time. Spending on PD should support teachers and improve student outcomes, but it must be tied to clear educational priorities and deliver measurable results.

In addition to the operating budget, which covers personnel and the ongoing costs of maintaining our schools and programs, the other major financial responsibility of the Board of Education is long-term capital spending. The capital budget refers to long-term investments in facilities.

There are several major capital projects underway, including construction of the new Long Lots/Stepping Stones school, regular maintenance of all buildings, and the evaluation of next steps for Coleytown Elementary.

Key funding decisions will have to be made along the way, and the Board’s conclusions must be presented for approval by the Board of Finance. Our team brings the skills, experience and initiative required to work productively with the administration and deliver sensible outcomes that the town’s funding bodies can support.

Great schools benefit all Westport taxpayers. They strengthen our community and drive our property values. Our goal is to make sure we get the most out of that investment — a goal that takes the leadership, experience and expertise our team offers.