By Sarah Opdahl

On Tuesday, May 19, New Fairfield’s Board of Selectmen (BOS) held a special Town Meeting. At the meeting, a couple dozen residents voted to approve funding for New Fairfield Public Schools that will close a gap in special education spending that ran much higher than anticipated this school year, causing a deficit.

The vote approved the appropriation of $276,637 from the General Fund, Education Cost Sharing, and $179,041 from the General Fund, Interest Income, for a total of $455,678.

Resident Cheryl Reed served as the moderator for the vote, and she walked voters  new to Town Meetings through the voting process. “Those of you who have not been to a Town Meeting before: I will read the resolution. Somebody will make a motion and put it on the floor. There will be a second, then we will have a discussion.” Once discussion is complete, “we’ll vote on it,” she said.

A resident questioned whether this vote would solve the issues in the education budget, and those gathered were assured in the affirmative by the New Fairfield Board of Education Chair Mr. Dominic Cipollone.