ANSONIA — A day after teachers and parents rallied with Democratic candidates to draw attention to the school district’s funding dispute with the city, Republicans announced plans for a rally of their own.
The “Rally for Valley Taxpayers” is scheduled for 5 p.m. Oct. 30 at the River Walk on Division Street.
Update, Oct. 23 2:45 p.m.: The Oct. 30 event has been canceled and will be rescheduled, one of the rally’s organizers said.
The original date conflicts with the annual convention of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, scheduled for Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 at Foxwoods.
Sheila O’Malley, an Ansonia official helping to organize the rally, said the rally will happen on another date.
“Stand by we are rescheduling,” O’Malley said.
Original post continues below.
Plans for the event surfaced after dozens of residents turned out Oct. 18 for a rally at the high school organized by the teachers union at which educators catalogued the negative impacts of the legal battle between the city and Board of Education over a $600,000 budget cut.
The legal battle probably won’t be resolved until a court hearing next month at the earliest.
Now it’s at the forefront of one of the campaigns to represent the city in state government.
The Republican candidate for the 104th House District, Joseph Jaumann, is one of the Aldermen who voted for the $600,000 budget cut.
Jaumann’s Democratic opponent, Kara Rochelle, spoke during last week’s rally at the high school.
“We need to cooperate, we need to work hard, and we need to show these kids that we are going to get them the teachers and support they need,” Rochelle said.
Sheila O’Malley, the city’s economic development director and grants writer, is helping to organize the “Rally for Valley Taxpayers,” which she said is being co-sponsored by Valley Republican Town Committees and GOP candidates for office.
A list of speakers is being finalized, she said, but will include three Republican candidates: Jaumann, state Sen. George Logan, and state Rep. Themis Klarides.
But not Rochelle or Logan’s opponent, Jorge Cabrera, who both spoke at last week’s rally at the high school.
“I don’t think we want anyone there who is blaming the taxpayers and local government for how the state has handled the education funding and the legislative process which has tied municipalities’ hands,” O’Malley said.
She said the purpose of the event is “to thank Valley taxpayers for everything that they do, and stress the need for solutions that don’t involve increasing the tax burden on residents and businesses that simply can’t afford to pay more.”
The organizer of last week’s rally, Ansonia Federation of Teachers President Mathew Hough, said the Republicans were being divisive — and disingenuous.
“I think that it is extremely disheartening that the GOP is willingly creating a divide between people who support education and taxpayers; and that they are somehow two distinct groups,” Hough said. “Not one person at the education rally said anything about increasing taxes. There were several calls on the other hand about working towards a solution which works for all.”
Rochelle also took exception to the GOP efforts to frame the issue as pitting “taxpayers” against the school district.
She said the Republicans were using taxpayers.
“I think it is sad that taxpayers are being used for purely political reasons,” she said. “Haven’t they endured enough?”
O’Malley said the rally “was being planned for some time, but it took its form as a rally ‘for taxpayers’ after Democrats began to shift blame for a variety of issues — including education funding — to local taxpayers.”
In a prepared statement, Cabrera said he is “committed to fighting for increased aid to Ansonia and its schools.”
“School and town aid are chronically underfunded and I understand the pressure that puts on already tight town budgets resulting in higher taxes and painful cuts to schools,” he said. “Our children and our children’s education are critically important.”
Logan said he will attend the Oct. 30 rally, but doesn’t plan on speaking other than to say “hi” to the crowd. He said he would have attended last week’s rally if invited.
“Education is also one of my top priorities,” Logan said. “I am on the Education Committee for the State Legislature in Hartford and I fight hard for adequate education funding and good programs for our schools.”
The Valley Indy reached out Monday to Papcin and Jaumann.
