Our mission is to help improve Redding. Make it even better. Redding is a truly fine place to live. Many think " ..if it ain't broken, don't fix it.." But there are some facets of life in Redding, its government and educational opportunities that need improvement. A small group of us listed some of the specific ways in which Redding could or should be improved; after much thoughtful deliberation, we focused on one topic because it is of greatest importance and impact: the education of our children. It also represents the largest (72%) Town budget item. And yes, constraining the rate of growth of our local taxes is high on our list of urgent items which need improvement.

So we set out to consider how to improve the educational opportunities in Redding, and concluded that a best way to improve our schools is to establish competition. Improve the quality and cost. We developed a proposal to achieve the desired improvement in the best way we can conceive: providing a significant grant to those parents who send children to private schools while simultaneously and proportionally reducing the Town budget and thus benefiting all taxpayers, including Seniors without children in school.

The plan applies to all three Redding schools. Let's use Joel Barlow in an example to illustrate, using very approximate numbers: It now costs us $21,000+ to send one student to Joel Barlow for one year. If the student attends a private school instead, the parents receive a $7,000 grant, the Town must reduce its budget by $7,000 and $7,000 remains with Joel Barlow to support fixed overhead costs such as electricity, heating, etc. The resulting benefits are many-fold: 

• the student and parents have a choice; 
• the parents receive financial support in sending their child to private school; 
• all Redding taxpayers benefit by lower taxes resulting from a smaller Town budget; 
• with fewer student at our schools, the need for additions are negated; and, most importantly, 
• our schools will improve as a result of the competitive pressures and thus benefit the students who choose to continue to attend our public schools. 

Another NABR project is the 10in10 initiative. We found a way to ease the burden of our unprecedented difficult economic time by reducing Town spending 10%, but in such a way as to preserve Redding’s fundamental values: the ambience of the community, our excellent schools and our environment. 

Currently, the major NABR goals is to educate residents about these proposals. We solicit, we welcome, we urge your support in this endeavor.

NABR, Inc. is a not-for-profit Connecticut Corporation, designated by the IRS as a tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) organization. We are non-partisan, conservative. We are volunteers. 100% of all donated funds are put to work. We welcome your thoughtful comments; to conveniently convey your comments, please click here, or phone any of us. 

Click here for more info about the
School Choice Program

Click here for more info about the 10-in-10 initiative