Here are your comments:

"The logical top priority for the long run is to pay down the debt, thus allowing even more money to be available for the nice "to do's" in the future." F.U.

"Let's pay off our debt and start from scratch to lower our taxes." S.M.C.

"It never ceases to boggle my mind how many people think throwing money at the education problem is the answer. More money is spent today per child than any time in history and "JONNEY" still can't read. What is needed is to give authority back to the school faculty. Not every kid who is disruptive suffers from ADD or ODD,some are just rotten kids. Schools should not be daycare centers for those who don't want to be there and are unwilling to tow the line. Perhaps more people should realize that most teachers are professionals in thier fields and listen to what they have to say rather than rush to the defense of "their little angel." For the record, I am not a teacher, but I feel for those who are stuck trying to educate our youth in a society which places the good of the one above the good of the many." E.L.

"You should have included in this survey: To reduce the state income tax." F.S.

"Connecticut is one of the highest taxed states in the country. The people who buy homes here, earn their living here and raise families here are the ones that the state should be thanking. If not for us, then there would be no robust economy. Conversely, the more a government taxes, the less ambitious a society will become. Give some of that money back (and please, don't tax the tax rebate this time!!) Just a footnote ... Rowland shouldn't be wasting money on those $@#** Patriots ... there are many better ways to use that money!" T.L.

"I would have voted for education, but as an employee at the new UConn Campus in downtown Stamford, and realizing how much money was truly squandered on this project (believe me, I have some interesting inside info.) I feel that the smartest thing the state can use funds for is the reduction of debt. This will benefit all residents, might reduce our taxes and also might alleviate the exobitant tuition at our university. The cost overruns, the quality of the work, and the lack of planning for the move to the new campus lead me to believe that the State of Connecticut political system is more interested in hype and self-promotion than in doing real good for the citizens of this state." D.E.

"There is no such thing as a budget surplus. Any funds which are seen as a surplus should be put directly into education. Remember Sheff vs. O'Neill? How are schools going to be made equal without funding? There are never enough supplies for the students, and good teachers are released due to lack of funding.
There is no such thing as a budget surplus.
There is no such thing as a budget surplus.
There is no such thing as a budget surplus.
I hope I've made my point." K.T.

"The suggestion that the budget surplus be spent on tax rebares is a laugher. Our "illustrious" governor still doesn't have it right: as long as a homeowner who owns a $250,000 house in Woodbridge is paying the same amount of taxes ($4,000) as a homeowner in West Haven(look at the mil rates and property values,) the taxation system in Connecticut is out of whack and favors the wealthy at the expense of the not-so-wealthy. As long as that situation exists, and the burden of taxes falls heaviest on the poorest in the state, the large cities of Connecticut (New Haven, Hartford, Bridgeport) will continue to be a festering sore of urban decline in the state of Connecticut. And as long as that inequity exists, WHAT BUSINESS DOES HE HAVE IN SQUANDERING MONEY ON A FOOTBALL STADIUM WHICH WILL ONLY BENEFIT KRAFT?!" D.E.

"You should have included one other choice in the survey and that is reduction in property taxes." T.P.

"I'm amazed that so many people think we should spend more state money on education. The teachers in this state are the highest paid (and most overpaid) in the country. We have four state universities, multiple community colleges and UConn that use millions of dollars to subsidize tuition, pay educators, etc. Probably the least priority is put on tech schools, but there still is an abundant opportunity in those fields of study. Why do people have this blind urge to spend more on education? It seems to me people in this state are over educated." A.J.C.

"We will not have any surplus if the patriots come to htfd we voted on a package that more than likely many did not understand. Kraft is crafty." F.P.

"What else is singularly more important to our well being? No other answer than education. There should be equality among the school curriculums. And, you should be able to get a GREAT public education, ANYWHERE in CT ... My husband and I scraped & saved to move to a town where the education system was the best around. We looked at 4th grade mastery score data. We asked local people. We liked the ruralness here in our town, and it mattered a great deal to us that we were as far away from Hartford as possible!

"Now, with the focus of education brought into the spotlight courtesy of the Sheff v. O'Neill case, oh yes...there is a mighty battle brewing between the haves and the have nots. My husband and I think about these things now, because we have two-year-old twins ... Why shouldn't my kids go to a top-notch school, one in a community where there is little if any, crime ... where there are no gangs...no dropout rate...no booming grunt music ... where the homes are not bombed out air raid shelter lookalikes? We PAID to live here! We sweated and saved and sacrificed! Both my husband and I went to school beyond high school and paid our own ways! No one handed this to us, we earned it! And we felt, therefore, we earned the right for our kids to go to a great school.

"But the more I thought about it, the more I realized, that kids everywhere in CT should all get the same education, regardless of a town's per capita income. It doesn't make any sense to say that our kids should get a better education just because we live in a wonderful rural town where the average home price is upwards of $150,000. School isn't about that! It is about education and instilling the RARE gift of WANTING TO LEARN in children. ALL CHILDREN are precious...

I have this lofty notion, however, I don't have a way to fix it. I just know that it is the curriculum that needs fixing. It isn't busing to other towns with voucher coupons, or saying that the inner city kids are stupid or the rural suburban schools are better.

"So. Can the state's surplus fix the curriculum? I don't know. I wish I knew. But how about fixing up the schools, the ones falling down. How about spending money to equalize the curriculum, putting computers in all the classrooms. How about creating a fund for the schools so that they don't have to let programs go when there's no money in the town budget for it? How about funding scholarship money? How about creating kids' activity centers for teens? How about pumping money into before-and-after school programs so that parents don't have to pay for so much?

"How about putting aside more money for aspiring college people to become teachers? And how about doing away with taxing us to death with a state income tax so more money can be spent on schoolkids' needs? How about more Schools for the Arts?

"Let's have a thinking session on education and revamp what we have and put the money to good use. The kids in school now will soon be making decisions to affect all us old baby boomers. Spending money on education is not only honorable, but necessary and OVERDUE!" D.U. Editor's Note: We generally appreciate shorter comments, but felt this one was worth printing in its entirety.

"I am a member of the newly formed Fairfield County Coalition for the Disabled. There are SO MANY NEEDS. It would be nice if the government would recognize that instead of buying football teams, etc. Sometimes politicians and others either forget or refuse to recognize that disabled people are people, too. Thanks for listening." D.W.

"You should have had a choice to lower taxes. If we have a budget surplus taxes are too high. Give legislators extra money and they will find a way to commit taxpayers to it forever. We already went through this with Gov. O'Neill's budget surpluses in the '80s. When things go bad they have to raise taxes to support commitments made in good times." R.M.

"The surplus should be used to eliminate the STATE INCOME TAX COMPLETELY." T.P.

"From my own experience at HCTC in Bridgeport, I know that any money allotted, or given to education as you stipulated in the aforementioned survey can end up paying for a gallery. The coolege politics would rather give one another strokes, the day care program has a two-year waiting period. Yes, education would be my first choice, but not from my experience here in this state. Bridgeport gets the college it sadly deserves." C.D.

"Cut the state income tax!" J.L.

"If we have these budget surpluses each year, isn't it finally time to do away with the state income tax. Let us not forget, that Gov. Rowland once promised that he would do away with the income tax." B.W.

"When I see that I have to declare an additional $75.00 in my yearly income because of the Governor's wonderful idea of giving me "something back", I just feel like vomiting. How can we make him understand that I and so many others don't want this rebate at all? That what we will like to see him do is lower the state tax across the board, pay the state deficit and save some of this surplus for a rainy day. The problem is that what I want and what a politician believes I want are two different things." L.T.

"The surplus should be used to benefit all the people of the state. It should NOT be used in any way to finance any aspect of the SWEETHEART stadium deal Rowland gave to Kraft. The deal stinks and will wind up costing us $$$." L.Q.

"I think that the top priority for using the state budget surplus should be education, because education needs it a lot right now, especially during all of the work that is being done to schools all across Connecticut and to help universities across Connecticut. J.M.

"The surplus for a couple of years in a row shows that we are being overtaxed, and the tax rate should be lowered. This answer should be on your survey." G.D.

"What more can I say than education, education, education? My daughter's friend moved to another school because that school had better education." M.O.

"Originally we all voted for a Connecticut lottery on the condition it was to go only for education. Within a couple of years it was silently slipped into the general fund without knowledge of the public. Someone should expose this to those who did not know why we have a state lottery." C.L.

"The surplus should be used to help towns reduce real estate taxes as I believe that the high property taxes in Conn. are a big factor in the lack of population growth from people moving into the state. The state should pay for any MANDATES it has imposed upon cities and towns, past, present and in the future. If you were considering a move to New England and discovered Connecticut had the highest gasoline taxes in the U.S. and the highest real estate taxes, among others, wouldn't you consider another New England state? After all, many technical jobs can be done with computers and the Internet, so establishing a home near the place of work is no longer as important." M.B.

"Paying off debt is my top choice, but I would really rather have it spent THE RIGHT WAY on education. Every time we dole dollars out for education it goes heavily to inner cities. That means, the people paying the most tax dollars get the least education dollars back. Hey, here's an idea. How about using lottery money for education? Why can't Connecticut use lottery money to give EVERY child who maintains a B average in high school a college education, regardless of socail status?? What's the matter, Gov. Rowland, afraid it might work??? Just think, inner city kids would be guaranteed a college degree if they just did well in school. Maybe that would be encouragement enough!" R.H.

"What has happened to our society, have we forgotten that the children today are our leaders of tommorow? I think the surplus without a doubt needs to put into our future ... The education of children!" T.M.R.

"Why did you omit the only obvious choice: CUT TAXES. This "Rebate" business is ridiculous. Are we lending them the money when we pay our taxes? BALDERDASH!" G.W.

"If the legislative representitive of Bristol doesn't pay more attention to the lack of money in our education budget there is not much hope for our children for they will grow up to remain "blue collar" workers." S.D.

"What happened tohe governor's first campaign promiss to do away with the income tax. It has been lowered a bit but not removed. When is he going to abolish the state income tax?" E.C.

"I'm terribly concerned about the cut backs in welfare and medical assistance for those who are truly in need; expecially the elderly and families with children. We are seeing an increase in requests for food from those who might be labeled "working poor."" M.G.

"In all honesty, I feel that the surplus should be split between all of these. Our extra money should not go to a stadium!" Katie

"I do not believe that police officers get enough help or money for all the dangers they are put out to face. They are there because they want to help society. For a sports figure to get paid so much just for entertainment purposes, a police officer who risks his/her life to save others should get just as much recognition and more help." D.O.

"When the government has a surplus, it means they have overcharged us. We wouldn't put up with the local dept store overcharging us and not giving it back, so why should we accept the government doing it?" P.R.N.

"Hi! Through education the need for law enforcement,social services, tax rebates and rainy day funds would be greatly lessened ... Bye! J.S.

"It would be interesting to see what the results would be if the choices were only education, tax rebates or debt reduction." D.W.

"The most appropriate response to how to deal with state budget surpluses was not even listed as an option: to permanently reduce the state income tax rate. Tax rebates are temporary bones thrown to taxpayers by politicians. If the state is running surpluses, that money belongs to taxpayers and should be returned to taxpayers. Any other use of it would be the same as keeping a wallet you found for your own selfish needs, even though the owner's name were inside.

I would be curious to know why the webmaster did not even think to include permanent tax rate reductions as a voting option? Is this considered too radical? It was only a few years ago, during the reign of King Lowell the First, when the state started taxing personal income. G.M. Editor's Note: See above. Hindsight is 20-20, I wish I had included it. ;-)