Board of Ed votes to sue town over budget

WINSTED — At a special meeting on Tuesday, April 19, the Board of Education voted to pursue legal action against the town for cutting $2,820,561 from the school budget.The cut was made by the Board of Selectmen during a budget hearing on April 13.“The purpose of the legal action is to enforce the minimum budget requirement [MBR],” Board of Education Chairman Kathleen O’Brien said in an interview after the meeting. “The Board of Selectmen has created a budget that is grossly below what we believe will be the MBR for next year. That’s the basis of the lawsuit. We will pursue the legal action until the budget is decided.”O’Brien said the budget as proposed by the selectmen would take the school district $1.7 million dollars below its current level of funding.“We still have not determined whether or not to sue just the town or sue individual members of the Board of Selectmen also,” O’Brien said. “Our goal is to get adequate funding for the education system in Winchester in order for our children to compete with their peers around the state. “The budget, as it currently stands, has the potential to cut 43 teaching positions from the school system. Since we have currently 71 teaching positions, that’s kind of severe. Our argument is that the MBR has not been set by the state, but it soon will be.”O’Brien added that any legal action the Board of Education pursues will be funded by a line item in this fiscal year’s and next fiscal year’s budget for legal fees.She added that the board would announce further details of their legal action next week.