The education system in New Britain is a hotly debated topic and our most costly tax expenditure as City residents. We pay over 50% of our property taxes into the school system here in New Britain, so any type of state educational assistance we receive directly offsets our property taxes. The other day I received a mailer from Tim O’Brien touting a 27% increase in state educational funding since 2003. That seemed impressive until I compared New Britain (Ranked 166 out of 169 towns by the State Department of Education) to four other similarly poor school districts in Connecticut:
• The average Educational Grants increase for the poorest districts in the state was 40.6%.
o Bridgeport increased 31.65%
o Hartford increased 64%
o New Britain increased 26.3%
o New Haven increased 37.2%
o New London increased 52%
So in other words, our 27% increase was well below the average of similar cities – and compared to towns like Plainville (104% increase), Middletown (84% increase) and Bloomfield (436% increase) – we are seriously falling behind in education funding. In order to improve the education system and lower property taxes there need to be changes made in Hartford. We need to support candidates that will bring home the needed grants and funding to our cities – instead of passing funds off to other towns.
Mr. O’Brien seems to believe that his opponent, Cris Carillo, should not use his own record against him. However, Mr. O’Brien sees no problem with running on his own record, so long as it reflects well on him. As a former member of the Legislature’s Education Committee, Mr. O’Brien should realize more than anyone that a 27% increase is nothing to brag about considering the challenges New Britain’s schools face and the funding other communities receive. These are the simple facts, not lies or deceit. Mr. O’Brien says he fights for New Britain, but his fight has yielded no results in finding funding solutions for our school district.
On November 2nd, I will be supporting Cris Carillo because he will help bring back the needed educational grants and property tax relief to New Britain.
Anthony Kane
48 Russwin Road
New Britain
All information is available on the CT State Department of Education website:
http://www.csde.state.ct.us
Sunday, October 24, 2010
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Linda McMahon for Senator of State of Cpnnecticut....
....Nov. 2, in the midst of the continuing economic downturn, Linda McMahon has a serious chance to be elected Connecticut's first Republican U.S. senator since Lowell Weicker in the 1970s and '80s. Unlike Mr. Weicker, however, Linda is committed to Republican principles and is uniquely qualified to succeed 30-year incumbent Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd.
Linda espouses a common-sense guiding principle many politicians seem to have forgotten in the age of Barack Obama: "People create jobs, not governments." To this end, she says, "Government's role in economic recovery must be to help create an environment where small businesses can succeed and grow. Small businesses have historically created 70 percent of new jobs."
Linda says the best way for the government to help businesses create jobs is by giving people "incentives to work, save and invest by keeping tax rates and regulations low." As a means to this end, she proposes making permanent the federal personal-income-tax rates in effect since 2003.
Linda opposes the scheduled Jan. 1 increase in the capital-gains tax rate on the grounds capital will be driven offshore, taking jobs with it.
Linda's Democratic opponent, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, is as uniquely unqualified to take on this job in tough times as Linda is qualified.
Mr. Blumenthal touts his experience as a reason to send him to Washington, D.C. The problem with this argument is he has the wrong kind of experience. Mr. Blumenthal's experience is entirely in the legal and political arenas. This would be fine if he had business experience as well, but he does not.
On his campaign Web site, Mr. Blumenthal offers some interesting ideas for job creation, such as making permanent the federal Research and Development Tax Credit and providing tax deductions for start-up businesses. Yet, when specifically pressed by Linda in their first debate about how he would help create jobs, Mr. Blumenthal famously gave a rambling answer, suggesting he has capable policy consultants but knows little about job creation.
Mr. Blumenthal has cited his record as attorney general to demonstrate his concern for the people of Connecticut. Yet, throughout his 20-year tenure, Mr. Blumenthal approached his office with an attitude that has been described as "sue first, ask questions later," which has resulted in thousands of frivolous lawsuits, including his failed suits against a Stamford fertility specialist and a computer company. How someone who embraces a process that creates so much uncertainty, and costs so much money, can be expected to provide steady leadership in troubled times, is a mystery.
For all of these reasons, we do endorse Linda McMahon for U.S. Senate of State of Connecticut.
O'Brien keeps proclaiming to care so much about New Britain schools, but do he and his wife still send his stepson to an out of town school?
School vouchers are the answer. That allows parents to decide where to send their children, instead of some bureaucrat deciding for them.
The best way to decide who to support is to ask the candidate whether or not they support school vouchers.
Tim will crush Cris.
CRUSH.
His over the top negative mailers have even cost him support among conservative voters.
Why did why have to find the one candidate to BLOW IT for the republicans?
Very well put Tony.
Henry Zembko
Candidate for State Senate
Zembko@nbrtc.com
To the council dem who chimed in for Tim O. Cris's mailers are not negative in the least. They only correct the lies O'Brien tells. Carillo's mailers even list Tim O's votes to show the truth. Even look at the Yankee Institutes website to see that O'brien lies about his votes. Also please refer to the FOI act papers from over the summer that show he told you how to lie about the mayor during the budget veto.
Henry Zembko
Zembko@nbrtc.com
P.s.please write your contact info so we know who you are.
So Henry, you sound confident. How much are you going to win by?
U focus o lot on the Council. U should have started there before going for Senate, something way over your head.
Tom Foley supports money following the student. If parents are happy at a school, whether private or public, they will keep sending them there. The schools that are ineffective will lose students and quickly close.
There are excellent schools in New Britain. As a city, we have many students who come to school already behind, and although tremendous progress is made with these students, they cannot catch up to their suburban peers. This is why class size is so important in New Britain. If we had all English-speaking upper middle class students, 25 kids in a classroom wouldn't be an issue (although behavior from many kids these days isn't what it used to be due to bad parenting, and this is rampant throughout society). But this isn't the case.
Furthermore, the state requires bilingual education, which is not fully funded, and New Britain has the highest ratio of English Language Learners (45%) in the state of Connecticut. We also have a higher ratio of special education students (14% compared to a state average of 10%), for whom services are mandated but not fully funded. Finally, we have a higher percentage of low-income students, who do not get the same birth to three experiences as middle class kids. They are not read to, many do not get any cultural experiences (such as a zoo or museum), and many are simply not exposed to life the way typical young children are. Again, this is happening everywhere nowadays with the explosion of single-parent and two-working parent homes, but especially with low-income families.
New Britain needs more support from the state, and Tim O'Brien has not delivered, in spite of his own braggadocio.
Further reading on how to close the achievement gap, by the governor's commission of bi-partisan volunteers, mostly business leaders, as well as representatives from several other professions:
www.ctachieve.org
Anyone who would vote for a radical like O'Brien deserves exactly what he/she gets in the form of massively higher taxes and drastically higher unemployment.
The only thing O'Brien seems to support is taking more of your money away in the form of taxes and giving it to people HE believes deserve your money more than you do.
In other words, socialism.
NEW BRITAIN CT
Senator Donald DeFronzo's Letter To The Editor - New Britain Herald 10/25/10 - "Deplores negative political attacks" against his colleague and friend (Rep. Tim O'Brien, former Manchester CT resident) by O'Brien's opponent Cris Carillo a candidate for the 24th District Seat.
In 1909 Cris Carillo's Great-Grandfather opened his first store selling fruit, pasta, ice cream and cigars at 77 Arch Street in New Britain. Cris Carillo's Mother and father worked as teachers in the New Britain School System for over 60 years combined.
Now, as 4th generation resident of the City with roots in the Hardware City, Cris Carillo has followed in both his Father's and Great-Grandparent's steps as a small business owner in New Britain- opening up Keystone Bankcard on Dwight Street in New Britain revenue by providing payment processing services. Mr. Carillo has Economics Degree University of Connecticut.
There is a lack of Information on Tim O'Brien's family, his business experience, his education, etc.
As a politican O'Brien stated that he worked hard to win approval of the "Citizen Election Program". But, earlier this year the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, which has Connecticut jurisdiction, ruled in Green Party of Cpnnecticut v. Garfield that matching grants of "Citizen Election Program" violate the Constitution.
A ruling by the Supreme Court is needed to resolve these interpretations as state has no 'compelling interest' in level playing for candidates for public office by equalizing financial resources between candjdates.
Vouchers are the answer.
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