Name: Robert Pagoni

Age: 55

Party and Position Running For: Democrat - Board of Education

Previous Political Experience:

Board of Education member 8 years. Chairperson for the Board of Education 4 years.

Other Experience:

USAF Officer - 30 Years. In both of my occupations I have been personally responsible for multi-million dollar assets and programs and the safety and welfare of people.

Occupation: Airline Pilot

Education: BA UCONN 1977, MA Pepperdine University 1982

Why are you running for office?

My entire adult life has been spent in serving my country and my community. It is just who I am and what I believe in. I spent 30 years after graduating from UCONN in the active Air Force, the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve. In that time I spent countless days and nights away from my family on deployments that included 4 overseas duties flying combat missions.

Why? I did it because someone had to and I felt I was part of a team and would do a good job. I have brought that same work ethos to the Board of Education. I have been on the Board for 8 years now. We have done a lot a great work there and have a lot to do. The Board runs considerably different and the budget process is managed considerably different now than when I first was elected. The Board meetings are more open and more citizen friendly. The Web site has almost anything you would want to look up about the school system and the budget. The budget is looked at front to back, back to front and scrubbed continuously till the money is spent or we send it back to the town at the end of the year. Our Board scrutinizes the budget trying to figure out where to wring out every last penny and still prepare our students for their futures. These are the things that we must continue to do to run our schools effectively and spend my tax dollars and your tax dollars wisely.

How do you plan on creating a budget that provides a good education for Tolland students, but is one that you can defend before the Town Council and gain approval from Tolland voters?   

The budgets that I have been involved with over my tenure as the Chairman of the Tolland Board of Education have all been defendable to the Council and the voters. I am a taxpayer also, so any budget increase affects me. In accordance with the State of Connecticut statutes, the BOE is required to provide a proper education to every single child in our town. That requirement applies to each child whether they have special needs or not. There is no option not to spend in some cases a large amount of money on a specific child. If you take the money the BOE spends on special needs children and add it onto the other increases in the budget, the final numbers are going to rise. Our staff works diligently in trying to meet the needs of all of our children within our schools. The staff looks at every option before out-placing a child, including combining our needs in a regional arrangement with other towns. This is only one of the hundreds of things the BOE and staff do to try to produce a budget that benefits all of our children and does it as economically as possible.

Over the last four years the BOE/school staff has worked tirelessly to produce effective budgets. The budget that is finally sent to the Council is what the Board feels is necessary to graduate students prepared to take on the world. There is no fluff and there is no slush fund. It is what we typically produce in a non-partisan fashion on this Board. We are involved with the process on a daily basis and make our decision based on laws and facts and not on hearsay, rumor or what worked for me when I was a kid before “No Child Left Behind” type laws went into effect. We go to all of the Board meetings, special meetings, committee meetings, joint meetings, etc. and are well versed on trying to produce a quality budget. Our budget is what it cost, period. If the Council and or the voters can’t support it, well that is just the way it is and the BOE will do its best. Do you want the BOE to just make up a number that will get past the Council and voters regardless of whether it meets the needs of the students or do you want to know what we think it really cost and then you tell us what you can afford? This is what the voters have to ask themselves on Election Day. Regardless of how you feel, let all our veterans and also me know you value our service to protect your right to vote and get out there and VOTE!!!!!