WOODBURY – This definitely wasn’t on anyone’s 2025 bingo card – students are bewildered, faculty are overwhelmed – and worst of all, nobody’s prepared. Nonnewaug High School’s budget cuts have left some classrooms–specifically science courses– lacking. In some classes, there aren’t enough seats or materials for everyone. It’s especially apparent with the huge influx of new students, bringing in nearly 175 new freshmen to the student body.
The Region 14 Board of Education’s proposed budget was rejected by voters on two separate occasions during May through June of 2025. The original proposal sought for an approximate 3.85% increase, but was voted down. This cost Region 14 the elimination of science and social studies administrative positions in the elementary school. Following the second referendum’s rejection, the district cut approximately $600,000 to appease voters. This, however, was not enough and a $68,365 guidance counselor position, as well as a $40,295 removal of lab tech savings were eliminated, staffing cuts that directly affected NHS students.
Shelly Stone, a veteran faculty member of Nonnewaug’s science department understands the educational impact of this financial loss.
“I think the recent budget cuts are very unfortunate,” Stone said, reflecting on the fact that four of the last six budget votes in R14 have failed. “[The BOE] cut things that we actually really need here. The cut of the lab tech support for the science department is huge, and definitely changes how we do our curriculum.”
Throughout Stone’s classes, hands-on experiments have become significantly scarce.
“[These cuts take] away from kids getting to do the fun part of science,” Stone said.
This has decreased the quality of science courses, leaving some students feeling helpless and unsatisfied.
Rachel Evon, a Nonnewaug senior, sees firsthand how some of these cuts are affecting her classes.
“The school just isn’t getting the supplies they need,” said Evon. “We definitely do a lot less things than we used to. We do fewer experiments, and way less hands-on work. Everything we do is on the Chromebook, and it’s hard to learn that way. That’s why a lot of us are just relying on AI because the actual class content isn’t that great.”
Evon’s experience coincides with Stone’s observations.
“Our NGSS scores went up significantly last year,” said Evon. “That had a lot to do with the course structure and curriculum in classes.”
Hailey Hanson, a Nonnewaug senior who takes both AP Biology and AP Environmental Science has seen a similar trend.
“The budget cut was really concerning for my classes,” said Hanson. “Honestly, we’ve been struggling to do hands-on labs and the budget cut is making things worse.”
Without the proper financial support, students get the short end of the stick with education and this will reflect on their test scores. Additionally, these test scores reflect on the school, and a massive decline in their quality may even hurt Nonnewaug’s state rankings. Some worry that this year’s budget will be a negative precursor for the years to come. If so much funding is taken away now, what do the next few years have in store?
The loss of funding has had an overall negative impact on not just students, but the culture of Nonnewaug.
“They have the philosophy that if they reduce the funding, it’ll force people to do better and encourage them,” Stone said. “It’s kind of a backwards way of looking at things; it’s much more counterproductive. The support positions they took away– really affected how the school functions. And that’s unfortunate.”
