Gov. Ned Lamont has released amendments to the budget, which he said amounted to $ 402.5 million in investment in schools, but not everyone is happy with the changes.
The Connecticut General Assembly will hear public testimony Thursday afternoon about the school budget, but educational groups and officials are pointing out what they think are omissions or problems with the governor’s proposal.
The proposed budget includes $ 26.2 million in school placements and transportation costs as part of the Chef v. O’Neill school desegregation settlement announced last month, and continues a multi-year state plan for fairer funding for local counties through a grant to share education spending. , to officials.
Other initiatives have been funded through the state’s federal coronavirus tax recovery fund, including $ 90 million to help schools tackle air quality improvement – an old problem exacerbated by the airborne pandemic and climate change – plus double enrollment support. schools for the Deaf, and FAFSA completion.
But changes in enrollment and proposed revisions to the state grant program could result in $ 6.2 million less in funding for the next fiscal year compared to what is currently allocated in the biennial budget, according to the School and Public Finance Project, a non-partisan political organizations.
“The changes just keep giving advice,” said Michael Morton, deputy executive director for communications and operations.
The proposed funding will still add about $ 39 million compared to this year, but will disproportionately affect school districts that expect to increase state aid once the grant program is fully operational. This includes Bridgeport, where schools will receive $ 1.5 million less than previously expected.
“This is the second time in two years that Governor Lamont has tried to cut expected education funding in the state’s largest black and brown cities,” said Joseph Sokolovich, chairman of the Bridgeport Education Council’s finance committee.
“For Bridgeport and underfunded communities across the state, they will continue to see challenges in meeting the needs of their students without a fully funded ECS formula,” Morton said.
The governor’s office did not return a request for comment.
Other educational groups reiterated these points and stated that the proposal did not provide adequate funding for the city’s most demanding school districts.
“Connecticut schools have a major race gap, and the effects of that gap have only been exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Daniel Pearson, state director of Educators for Excellence in Connecticut, whose mission is to highlight teachers’ perspectives on educational decisions. . . “We are disappointed that the budget proposed by Governor Lamont is not doing enough to mitigate these problems.”
The teaching nonprofit also called for more support for teacher and staff vacancies – a state-wide problem for most of this school year, but especially during the omicron surge.
“In addition, our schools have an unprecedented level of staff shortages, which affects both student performance and teacher well-being,” Pearson said. “Any education planning or programming that comes out of this legislature is insufficient without staff to implement the programs.”
Subira Gordon, executive director of the educational advocacy group ConnCAN, a charter organization, said the budget proposed by the governor was “inadequate” and had not made any positive changes to the formula for allocating education spending.
“Connecticut has the worst capacity gaps in the country, and this budget is doing nothing to solve the problem. Every year when we don’t act is another year when thousands of kids are left behind, ”Gordon said.“ Enough means enough. We owe this to our children who fought hard before and during the pandemic. It all starts with funding, teacher quality, school improvement and innovation. ”
Gordon suggested that relying on federal funding and polling stations with open elections through the Chief would do little to address structural problems in state education funding.
The executive director and others nodded toward the public hearing process to get the governor and lawmakers to listen to Connecticut families and teachers and respond to their needs.
Includes Associated Press reports.