Who is to blame for the Greenwich school bus fiasco?
- Guy
- Oct 15
- 2 min read
A debate was held last Thursday Oct 9 (replay here) between the six Republicans and six Democrats (listed here), running for the powerful Greenwich Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET). Most of the debate time was spent on which party is best at getting along and which party was to blame for the school bus schedule fiasco. But the elephant in the room was not really addressed.
In her campaign to win your vote, Karen Fassuliotis who is running as an Independent candidate for the BET spilled the beans about what is really happening in her latest letter here.
Fassuliotis has credibility. She was elected in 2017, serving as a Republican on the BET for 8 years. In this campaign email, she points to the unreliable projections of Greenwich School Superintendent Toni Jones. She also points to the dysfunctional Board of Education (BOE) whose Democrat members mounted an October 2024 coup to gain control of the body making subsequent BOE decisions unlawful.
Here is what can't be ignored:
The Greenwich school budget never stops growing: the school operating budget in 2023 increased +4.25%, in 2024 it increased +3.58%, and in 2025, after demanding an increase of +5.6%, they settled on +3.5%. Translating the 2025 percentages into dollars, the school board requested $12 million, but were given $8 million - the difference of $4 million was less than what they wanted, but certainly not a cut.
Greenwich School enrollment keeps shrinking. Greenwich public shool enrollment was 9,012 when Superintendent Jones started in 2019, dropped to 8,589 in October 2024 and is now estimated to be 8,400. Every explanation by the Superintendent hasn't held water: COVID, Kindergarten age, etc. See post here.
Greenwich still spends the most on student and teachers. Experienced teachers get $113,000 per year (including summers off and pension/health benefits), the best in the state. Greenwich spends $28,000 per student, the highest in the state.
In her letter, Fassuliotis stated, "Schools ended in June 2025 with an unexpected $2.5 million surplus. School enrollment shrunk an unexpected 121 kids this year. The BOE had more than enough money without making changes to the bus schedules." Why did the bus fiasco occur? Ask Superintendent Toni Jones, she made the decision.
Between the Lines: Sounds like the School Superintendent and a dysfuntional school board may be partly responsible for throwing the students and parents under the bus here.