New Haven Independent

DeStefano is one of two Democratic candidates seeking to unseat Republican Rell in this year’s gubernatorial election.

To fill out the theatrical setup Tuesday, DeStefano brought students from high school and college to protest education cuts. The U.S. House will vote on the national budget Wednesday. Under Bush’s proposed budget, Connecticut would lose more than $80 million in federal K-12 funds over 12 years, and lose nearly $13 million in vocational and adult education, charged DeStefano. Community Block Grants would be cut by $500 million.

A half-dozen students stood up in outrage over proposed cuts to higher education. Marissa Levendis, a junior at Yale (at left in picture), protested how Bush’s budget has frozen the Pell grant, which helps underprivileged kids go to college.

“The president had the opportunity to go to Yale but he continues to deny that opportunity to low-income students across the country and in Connecticut by freezing Pell grants for the fifth year in a row as tuitions rise across the country,” said Levendis. The Pell Grant offers up to $4,050 per person, the same amount offered four years ago.

Scott Harris, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School (second from left in picture), is one student suffering from education cuts. “I come from a low-income family, so I’m experiencing the cuts right now that the president is making,” he said. “I would like the president to come and say to my face that these programs are inefficient.” Harris is headed for UMass-Amherst in the fall and says he needs all the financial aid he can get.

Asked to respond to the criticism, Rell reelection campaign spokesman Rich Harris said Rell “sent a letter to Washington last week opposing any cuts in community development block grants,” but “I don’t know what specific issues she plans to discuss with the president.” On Pell grants: “I can’t tell you off the top of my head where she is on Pell grants.”

“If DeStefano and other Democrats really want to do something to improve the lives of Connecticut families,” said Harris, they can support Rell’s proposals to eliminate the car tax and support a 25 percent cut on energy taxes. Those initiatives “are truly beneficial to the people of the state,” he said.