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Connecticut Democrats have been mighty angry since November 5th.
They couldn't conceive that democracy had so thoroughly repudiated their vision of government and society.
We've since heard lots of propaganda touting "Connecticut Values," and we've been curious about what that means outside of abortion, transgender 'rights' and protecting illegal immigration.
Apparently, one of the other things it means is a giant state takeover of children-focused not-for-profit organizations and churches.
Who had that on their 2025 bingo card?
Yet that's pretty much what progressive democrat State Senator Saud Anwar suggested when he proposed S.B. 540, An Act Establishing Universal Access to Prekindergarten Education, which would amend Connecticut's education laws to mandate a "universal prekindergarten program in the state that provides fifteen hours of free school each week for children between the ages of three and four."
The program is meant to "close early learning gaps and support working families" — essentially a little bit of schooling and a little bit of babysitting.
Of course, it's hardly "free" since taxpayers will have to fund this program, hire more certified teachers at a time when the state is struggling to find teachers, rent and/or build new classroom space, figure out logistics (e.g., busing) and curriculum, negotiate with unions, and the list goes on.
In wealthy Greenwich, for instance, existing public preschool classrooms have staffing costs that range between two and three times the cost of a regular elementary school classroom.
We're not sure if our calculator is big enough to add up what the total impact on taxes would be!
Think we'll get help from the state?
Well, you can forget that idea!
Connecticut long ago stopped sending any of the taxes collected in Greenwich back to the Town to pay for unfunded mandates like this. In Greenwich alone, Anwar's mandate would likely require millions upon millions of new spending on classrooms, teachers and administrative staff.
And you thought the Central Middle School building project was a nightmare!
The truth is Anwar's proposal sounds more like socialized babysitting or daycare, run by the same people in charge of an education system that regularly fails to educate students in academics, but has no problem indoctrinating them with gender ideology, telling young children they may have been born in the wrong body.
Imagine the kinds of books you might find in the preschool library!
Plus, we've seen Superintendents in district after district after district promising to not to ask for the immigration status of any new students, and to protect students they know who are here illegally from deportation.
Guess they would get free preschool under Anwar's bill, too? How much more do you think that will cost?
On top of that, universal preschool would have real and serious knock-on effects on our communities, where a vibrant network of churches, synagogues and other organizations like the YMCA/YWCA, already offer preschool.
For many community organizations, preschools are the entry point for a lifetime of membership, participation, camaraderie and giving that enriches our town. The ability of these organizations to sustain and grow enables a vast network of other social services like food pantries, help for the homeless, senior care, domestic violence support, and many others.
Universal preschool would likely close the front door and undermine these not-for-profits, replacing private institutions with more government.
By the way, government-run preschool is already happening in Greenwich, but many people don't know about the program. Federal law requires school systems to provide free preschool for special needs children, so Greenwich gladly provides this service to give these children the head start they need and deserve.
But it appears Superintendent Toni Jones has decided to grow this program into her own personal universal preschool without anybody noticing. This might help to explain why school budgets are growing at the highest percentages in decades, while at the same time the school system is shrinking by 500 K-12 students.
It seems that, once again, she's developed her own agenda, and she's just running with it, without engaging the Board of Education.
And why would she bother to seek their involvement anyway?
She thinks she's not accountable to elected Board members, or the taxpayers for that matter.
Since she arrived in 2019, she has doubled the size of the preschool program from 150 to 300 kids...and she's vowed to keep going. When asked about any Board of Education discussion on the subject, she's quipped, "It is already part of the educational program, I don't need their approval."
The numbers aren't trivial and harbinger of what is to come if Democrats prevail in Hartford with S.B. 540.
Every additional preschool classroom would cost an estimated $225k to $300k just to staff. Add to that another $1.2 M to build the classrooms, if you're using Jones's calculator, and a little more to fill them with books and educational items. Each classroom would accommodate fewer than 14 little preschoolers based on current classroom sizes.
The dollar signs just keep spinning in front of our eyes!
Let's hope our elected representatives on the Greenwich BOE and our Hartford legislators, including Sen. Fazio and Reps. Courpas, Arzeno and Meskers, are paying attention and will prioritize Greenwich families as well as the churches, synagogues, and other community organizations that support them.
