Every February, like clockwork, our City budgets meet in the Thunderdome in what regularly feels like a “battle for the soul” of Norwalk. The yearly ritual is ripe with build-up, posturing, editorializing, and ultimately a spreadsheet circus climaxing in the bowels of the Common Council. This piece is not designed to rehash any of that. The archaic and convoluted process by which we determine how to fund our children’s educational welfare, laced with equal parts distrust and skepticism, political charades and groupthink, seems as old and cyclical as time. And this is coming from two Norwalkers who have both lived here only under a decade. Even us relative newbies are exhausted.
It’s important we preface by noting we are both Democrats. But, we are not boilerplate party infantry. We, like many of our fellow citizens, demand a system rooted in logic, rational forethought, and transparent data. While we believe that politics will always be a dirty business, we also believe that everyone, regardless of party or creed, must be rowing in the same direction: to improve the lives of the constituents they represent. The ideas and priorities may be different, but the integrity and values by which they are devised cannot. Continue reading Our perspective on the Norwalk education budget and Kydes amendment