ANSONIA -- Not many could imagine Ansonia without high school football--it's one of the best teams in the state and has won more state championships than any other high school. But now that the budget for the town has passed as is, and based on comments the superintendent of schools made recently, it may now be a reality.
On Monday, Dr. Carol Merlone, said that if the city's budget passed as it currently stood, she would have to cut all sports programs from Ansonia schools. That budget passed Tuesday night--but it was made clear that all options were still on the table and sports couldn't be counted out quite yet.
Last year, the district's music and arts programs were cut due to budget constraints.
"That's a threat on her part," Mayor David Cassetti said earlier in the day, before the budget passed. He reiterated to FOX 61 Tuesday night that he'd do what he could to ensure the cuts from other areas. He added that sports make up a small portion of the overall school budget--roughly $300,000 annually.
The Board of Alderman approved a 3.4 percent budget increase for the 2016-2017 school year, and it passed City Hall Tuesday night. Merlone had said on a local podcast she would still have to eliminate sports and at least nine teachers positions to meet that budget.
Merlone declined comment to FOX 61 Tuesday afternoon.
Anticipating a large turnout for this evening's special Board of Aldermen meeting, where the entire city budget will be dealt with, the Cassetti recorded a robocall to all residents Tuesday morning announcing the meeting had been moved from City Hall to the much larger Ansonia High School.
Tammy Falkowski, and Ansonia parent, asked, "If you cut our sports, what will our students do outside of school?" She got a lot of applause from others.
The mayor had thought the superintendent would change her mind based on new information he had planned to offer up at the budget meeting.
"They're going to get just, just under $1 million," said Cassetti. "But, I just told my staff to increase the (school) budget by $200,000."
It doesn't seem to have changed anything, but it's not over yet: the Board of Education will now discuss where the budget cuts will come from.
Merlone said during Monday's podcast that one of the reasons she needs more money for the school budget is 72 percent of kids that attend public schools receive either free or reduced price lunches.
