Newsletter Volume 3 • Number 38
A Republican fantasy floated each budget season
Ah, the age-old myth of plummeting enrollment in our schools, a favorite bedtime story for those eager to slash school budgets, close schools and fire teachers. Once again it’s circulating among our town finance board. In a meeting last month, Republican Budget Committee Chair Leslie Tarkington said, “It seems to me, with that kind of decline in the number of students… that we should be looking at some of these [school closing/consolidation] things.”
But, while we’re all for curling up with a good novel, let’s not get too cozy with fiction. Greenwich Public Schools (GPS) have in fact maintained a healthy enrollment, with projections indicating stability over the next decade.
We have a bumper crop of kindergarteners
The false narrative of a dwindling pipeline of kindergarteners has been repeated as if it were “Goodnight Moon,” a comforting tale, but not exactly reality. Mythical falling birth rates and families moving out of town, the story went, would justify cost cutting.
And if you extrapolate from state population data, you might be forgiven for assuming Greenwich would be affected. But surprise! Kindergarten numbers are running higher than projected. Kindergarten enrollment is expected to increase significantly, potentially exceeding 700 students in the fall of 2025, a whopping 26% increase from last year, and a high point for the decade.
Here are a couple of relevant factors:
- Families are flocking to Greenwich. This isn’t news to anyone who already lives here as reflected in our booming real estate market. Greenwich remains a great choice for families who are looking to partake in everything it has to offer including our picturesque surroundings. But as any local realtor will tell you, it’s our top-notch public schools that usually clinch the sale.
- More babies are being born. More families means more babies. GPS tracks birth rates from 5 years earlier to estimate how many little ones may be entering kindergarten in any given school year. More babies today means more students tomorrow.
Dr. Peter Prowda, the town’s contracted demographer, projects that district-wide enrollment will remain stable over the coming decade.
Let’s change the story and embrace reality
So let’s retire the fable of plummeting enrollment. Just because it gets repeated and dragged out each time there is a budget decision pending, that doesn’t make it true. The facts tell a different, even optimistic, story about the Greenwich Public Schools’ future — one of stability and a community committed to excellence in education. It’s time to put the fiction aside and focus on supporting our schools, our teachers and our students with the resources needed to thrive.
And that actual novel you were curling up with? You can go back to it now.
Fazio, Courpas reject state funding for Greenwich special education, nonprofits
Last week the state legislature approved emergency funding to help schools pay for the rising cost of special education, and to provide a lifeline for nonprofits imperiled by the Trump funding freeze.
Special ed is costing Greenwich taxpayers more
The number of students qualifying for special education services—tailored instruction and support for children with disabilities—has been steadily increasing, and providing for their needs is mandated by law. It already costs Greenwich over $30 million a year. “We’ve gone from a 10 percent special education population to now 14 (percent), “School Superintendent Toni Jones said in 2024. “Do we expect this to continue? Absolutely.”
Fazio and Courpas vote against taxpayers and kids
Democratic Representatives Hector Arzeno and Steve Meskers voted in favor of a state grant to help towns cover these growing programs. Republican Sen. Ryan Fazio and Rep. Tina Courpas, ironically a member of the state committee on special education, voted against it.
The $40 million grant costs taxpayers nothing. It is to be paid for with interest the state earned while holding federal pandemic aid. Despite Courpas’ and Fazio’s no votes, the funding passed on a bipartisan basis, 117-29 in the House and 26-7 in the Senate. Thanks to its passage, Greenwich can expect an additional $338,000 and Stamford, also represented by Courpas and Fazio, will receive an extra $1.3 million.
Board of Ed member Sophie Koven welcomed the funding, saying, “Additional state funding helps us deliver services to our students without adding to the local tax burden.”
Democratic reps support Planned Parenthood and local crisis groups but Fazio and Courpas did not
Last week the state legislature also approved $3 million to help nonprofits targeted by the Trump administration. Planned Parenthood will receive about $800,000 so it can stock up on abortion pills.
Medication abortion, which accounted for two-thirds of abortions in 2024, is under attack nationally by Republican leaders. Senator Fazio and Rep. Tina Courpas, who both campaigned as being pro-choice, voted against the funding for Planned Parenthood. Democratic representatives Meskers and Arzeno voted in favor.
Fazio and Courpas also voted to reject emergency funding for Greenwich nonprofit groups Jewish Family Services and Kids in Crisis.
What we’re reading
CT Trump voter and vet laments mass firings, including his own
A young father, Connecticut resident and former U.S. Marine is reeling after being fired from an IRS position in Hartford as part of the DOGE chaos. A Trump voter, and independent, “I was in support of government being more efficient,” Gabe D’Alatri of Vernon told one reporter. “I didn’t think people would be fired en masse like this.”
D’Alatri was invited to Trump’s speech to Congress last week by his Democratic congressman, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District. “There’s a lot of guys who went through combat” who were fired, he said. “There’s guys missing limbs.
“I think this is a nonpartisan issue. Veterans, we serve everybody and there’s veterans on both sides. I mean, it’s baffling to me. It hurt me so I know it definitely hurts a lot more other people,” D’Alatri said.
See coverage in the Greenwich Time, CTMirror, NY Times, and NBC CT.
Action Calendar
March 19. Get inspired.
Come to our monthly DTC meeting and hear from CT Attorney General William Tong, featured in our recent newsletter, “CT’s top lawyer comes out swinging.” 7:15 p.m., Town Hall Meeting Room, 101 Field Point Road.
March 23. March!
March with us in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Meet up in the parking lot behind Town Hall, 101 Field Point Road, 1:30 p.m. Info here.
March 24. Learn.
Community conversation with State Treasurer Erick Russell, moderated by Rachel Khanna. 6:30-8:00 p.m., YWCA Greenwich, 259 East Putnam Ave. RSVP here.
March 26 & 27. Speak!
Testify at the budget public hearings. March 26, schools budget, Central Middle School, 7:00 p.m. March 27, town budget, Town Hall Meeting Room, 7:00. You can submit written testimony here.
April 3. Sing.
| Volume 3, Number 38 • March 13, 2025 |
| Paid for by the Greenwich Democratic Town Committee. |
| Greenwich Democratic Town Committee P.O. Box 126 Greenwich, CT 06836 |