Editor's Note: The following was presented as testimony during the Hamden Legislative Council public hearing on the 2013-2014 education budget by Zoe Hoffmann Kamrat, a 10-year-old fourth grade student at Spring Glen Elementary School. 
I understand that the town needs more money. In order to do this, you think that you must take away positions from schools. This is not a good idea. The more positions that you take away, the less of a chance that our money issues will be solved. By taking away these positions, you are creating a large chain reaction. If we have schools with more positions and more opportunities for kids to learn, then we will have more minds that can work together and find better solutions to the problem. Also, you are making people that we want here in Hamden, not want to live here because of our low quality schools. I also know that some of the positions that you would like to take away are the instrumental music positions. I myself play the violin, and I take both private lessons and lessons at school. Many children can only take lessons in school. Once you take this opportunity away, it will probably never come back. By taking away instrumental lessons, you are taking music out of children’s lives for an entire generation.
Zoe Hoffmann Kamrat
Hamden