Better Management of our Town, State, and School Resources

What is being taught to our children in our schools?
Connecticut ranks 46th in the US for Educational Freedom in a new Heritage Foundation study.  The study looks at School Choice, Return on Investment of educational dollars, Tranparency of curriculum, and Regulatory flexibility. Connecticut ranks 36th in transparency. While state law encourages local Boards of Education to provide materials to parents and tax taxpayers to familiarize them of curriculum content, lawmakers should require public schools to give parents and taxpayers the chance to review academic content used in K–12 classrooms when, or before, it is presented to students. Worst of all, Connecticut ranks dead last in Return on Investment for educational dollars spent. We must do better.

Republicans are committed to supporting a vibrant school community within the Essex Elementary and Region 4 schools and continuing the high-quality education they provide our students.

Our team has the skill and experience to set realistic budgets in light of the long term decline in school enrollment so that our students get most educational value for our residents' tax dollars.​

 We know that our residents' homes and businesses represent the hard work and savings of a lifetime. Our team is committed to supporting property values in Essex through: 

• Lower taxes
• Improving the condition of all neighborhoods
• Maintaining town property 
• Supporting community spirit 

Connecticut’s debt load is high compared to other states: Our tax revenue each year is $22 billion, and our outstanding debt is $28 billion. This $28 billion excludes our unfunded pension and OPEB liabilities. In comparison, most states have outstanding debt less than their annual tax revenues. 

Debt service is 30% of our total spending: Last year, we spent 30% of our budget to service our debt and outstanding liabilities. As we spend more of our budget on debt payments, we will have less to run our government and will have to raise taxes.

Higher interest rates will increase our interest payments: We have been fortunate that interest rates have been low in recent years. Each percent increase in our interest rate will require an additional $280 Million of interest payments each year. In the future, interest rates may not stay so low, which underlines the seriousness of the problem.

Each year over the last decade, we have added more debt: We have not paid down one single dollar of outstanding debt over the previous decade. We have added more debt in good times and bad times. We must manage our financial resources better.