From this month's city council meeting, here's Mayor Boughton attempting to justify his illegal move to take back a potion of the board of education's funding and daring the board to go to litigation.
If the board of education was controlled by Democrats, trust me, Boughton would not had utter just an arrogant and idiotic comment.
By state statue, the city council has no jurisdiction over the decisions made by the board of education. Once funding is appropriated to the school board, that elected body can do whatever they want to do with that funding...period. What we have here in this case is a situation where the mayor and members on the city council overstepped the duties as elected officials by "punishing" another elected body because they didn't agree with a decision they made in regards to offering raises to administrators.
Although the mayor and city council did not ask any member of the board of education and/or school administrators ONE question about their justification behind the funding allocations, and although the city's own attorney could not come up with ONE case in the state where a municipality took a similar action, Boughton's rant reeks of the type of arrogance that eventually gets elected officials in hot water.
Prior to the city council's meeting, during a past board of education meeting, a member of the board challenged the legality of Boughton's action and sought an opinion on the matter. Take note of mayor's reaction at the notion that someone would seek an legal opinion on something he did.
At this point, based on the unbelievable comments from members of the council during the meeting, and the mayor's nonsense, the board of education should reject party loyalty, remember that they are a separate body elected BY THE PEOPLE, and take a stand by seeking the opinion from state's attorney general on this matter...a matter that was most likely illegal.
News-Times editorial 07.09.10:
Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton has gone too far and has overstepped boundaries in his attempt to cut the already approved education budget.
[...]
The mayor has called the 2.5 percent raises to four people irresponsible at a time when an intermediate school is closing in the city and other cost-saving measures are being instituted.
He has a point. Every expenditure must be carefully weighed when it comes to educating children -- no matter the frugality of the economic times.
But it is too late. The mayor and the City Council had their chance to review the proposed education budget; they took the responsibility seriously and allowed a less than 2 percent increase above the previous year.
It was up to the Board of Education to work with that amount, though the increase was only half of what was requested. Neither the mayor nor the City Council ought to have line-item veto power over the Board of Education.
All three arms of local government, after all, are elected by voters.
[...]
Schools Superintendent Sal Pascarella is offering to return his increase to the education budget, after he pays taxes, to be used for the new literacy center.
The net increase, without Pascarella's raise, comes to about $10,000 in a $114.1 million budget.
Mayor Boughton's suggestion, which was referred to committee last week by the City Council, amounts to posturing.
[...]
We are not quibbling about the salaries or whether they are deserved.
Our position is based on the fact that the mayor and the City Council ought not to try to override the Board of Education and manage its budget line by line.
For trying to do so, Mayor Boughton, a former teacher, should get called into the principal's office.
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News-Times 07.09.10 editorial: Gone too far: Danbury mayor oversteps limits when trying to punish school board
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