nothin New Haven’s Waiting On The Details | New Haven Independent

New Haven’s Waiting On The Details

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Malloy delivers his State of the State address.

Walker: “I’ve learned” to wait on Malloy’s details.

Hartford — Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s promise Wednesday to protect school aid to cities — although with an unidentified accountability” condition — left New Haven lawmakers cautiously optimistic, but eager to see the details.

He made the promise during an annual State of the State” address to a joint session of the General Assembly on the opening day of the 2017 legislative session.

Malloy outlined three areas that he planned to tackle in an effort to close a $1.5 billion projected deficit: continuing to make state government leaner and more cost effective, seeking more changes in the state pension system, and revisiting the formula for distributing town aid.

Most of that aid — 80 percent, or 4.1 billion, of $5.1 billion in total municipal aid — comes in the form of grants to the public schools, which the governor has cut in recent years to cities like New Haven.

In light of a recent state Superior Court judge’s ruling that criticized that approach, Malloy promised to take a different tack this year: to direct our support to those municipalities that are struggling the most — so that we can level the playing field for our students and our taxpayers.” (Click here to read the full text of the speech.)

Connecticut needs a new way to calculate educational aid – one that guarantees equal access to a quality education regardless of zip code. Our state constitution guarantees it, and our moral compass demands it,” Malloy declared. We need a formula that appropriately measures a given community’s burden. A formula that recognizes specific challenges faced by local property taxpayers. And a formula that takes into account the impact those challenges have on the education provided to our children.”

He promised that the proposed biennial budget he presents next month will outline a more equitable system for providing town aid. It will be based on the local property tax burden, student need, and current enrollment. The system will be designed to be more fair, transparent, accountable, and adaptable – meaning that it will provide flexibility to fit the needs of a given community.”

Then he added the caveat: If the state is going to play a more active role in helping less-affluent communities – in helping higher-taxed communities – part of that role will be holding local political leadership and stakeholders to substantially higher standards and greater accountability than they’ve been held to in the past. We should do it so that increased aid doesn’t simply mean more spending on local government.”

He didn’t provide details yet on what those standards” and that accountability” will entail. After the speech, New Haven lawmakers said they’ll be paying close attention to those details when they emerge.

Dillon.

State Rep. Pat Dillon said when it comes to accountability she’d like to see more on the state side.

I don’t exactly know what the higher standard would look like,” she said. Does that mean he’s worried about the poor towns not doing enough? I think the state could also be more accountable for how it spends its money, and that’s true on bonding and appropriations. I’ve seen [multimillion-dollar] contracts go zipping through. and I don’t see the same level of scrutiny frankly. I know lot of people are talking about pressure on the budget, but another pressure is the debt service.

I don’t think anybody is opposed to accountability. I don’t think investing in the cities should only mean the richer cities. The economy is going to come back if people want to be [in cities], and you’re not going to get young people if you start pounding the cities into the ground.”

Looney

New Haven State Sen. Martin Looney said it looks like the city might receive more, not less, education funding despite the overall cuts coming this year. He said he believes the governor will look to use state aid to incentivize finding economies of scale, including asking small towns to look toward regional spending approaches to avoid duplication. He said the governor isn’t looking to close schools; the focus could be on not having too many small school districts with top-heavy bureaucratic structures. (New Haven receives $142.5 million in Educational Cost Sharing from the state this year.)

Lemar.

State Rep. Roland Lemar said the governor’s speech set a framework the legislature should consider going forward — that cities are the state’s greatest opportunity to grow jobs and be competitive in the 21st century. He said he believes that New Haven has generally been an accountable community, but the reality is that it bears the brunt of structural and institutional racism when it comes to providing public goods like a decent education.

The city of New Haven is boxed in a tight geographic area without the property revenues to actually support a public school system and the rest of the suburban towns that created zoning rules to make sure that they never had to tackle the structural challenges we face,” he said. They have robust property tax baselines that we don’t have access to while we have a series of nonprofits. We’re always trying to educate most of the children in the region with fewer resources.

We need to make sure that school funding formula recognizes that reality that Connecticut has foisted upon central cities for over 100 years,” he added. Everyone in here wants to attack cities but the reality is the only way Connecticut grows as a competitive, economic place is if cities flourish and the only way that can happen is if we can equitably fund school.”

New Haven State Rep. Toni Walker, co-chair of the legislature’s powerful Appropriations Committee, said she’s taking a wait and see approach about any plans to change the formula for distributing town aid until she gets some specifics.

I’ve learned with our governor that I need to see the details to make sure what I’m agreeing with and what I’m not agreeing with,” she said. But he understands the impacts of our cities and the importance of them as the economic powerhouse of the state. They’re why people move to Connecticut.”

There will be a lot more detail into the research of each agency, especially in appropriations,” she added. We’re going to make sure that we go through all of the details. It’s going to be a lot of hours and a lot of work, but it’s the reason why we came up here. If we have to be sequestered for a month, so be it.”

The state cut nearly $850 million to balance the current fiscal budget. Malloy told a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate Wednesday that more will have to be done to reduce spending given the new projected $1.5 billion hole.

Commissioners will need to once again work with their staff – and with you, our legislative partners – to find additional savings,” Malloy said. Like families across Connecticut, just because we responsibly managed our budget in recent years doesn’t mean we can take this year off. We must continue to live within our means, spending only as much revenue as we have, and no more.”

Winfield.

New Haven State Sen. Gary Winfield said that statement gave him a bit of pause because cuts last year not only reduced spending, but actually reduced the size of government, which Malloy pointed out in his speech.

It all sounds great,” he said. People should be accountable for the money they receive. People who have more needs and a different tax base should be compensated differently — all of that sounds wonderful. But I don’t know what that means. I need details.”

Malloy touted some of the success that state has had in criminal justice reform including a reduction in the prison population and recidivism rates. Winfield said there is still more work to be done on the issues of solitary confinement, body cameras, and in juvenile justice reform with raising the age at which arrestees are tried as adults. He also added the question of marijuana possession as a criminal justice issue.

Porter.

State Rep. Robyn Porter said she took hope in many of Malloy’s points — such as the increase in reading proficiency and graduation rates. She tempered that hope with the problems she sees represented in the New Haven and Hamden school systems she represents. She said though there have been improvements, graduation rates are still low. She said there is a continued need to invest in urban centers, not just for the purpose of attracting people, but for sustaining those who live there and can’t find jobs.

We have to invest our urban centers,” she said. People are coming to work there and make their money there, but not caring about the people who live there and can not find work. There isn’t an achievement gap. There is an opportunity and resources gap. I’m glad hear [Gov. Malloy] say he wants to put more money in urban centers where more money is needed.”

Like Winfield, she wants to hear more about what the state plans to do to remove the scarlet F” that formerly incarcerated felons wear as they try to move on from their previous crimes and find work. She said she wants to see more done to address the problem of employment among the formerly incarcerated and she wants to see the end of the criminalization of children.

In his speech, Malloy pointed out that the state provides $5.1 billion in aid to municipalities and 81 percent of that spending, or $4.1 billion, is for education. That number doesn’t include what the state spends on school construction financing, which is roughly a quarter of the state’s bonded debt.

Paolillo.

Freshman New Haven State Rep. Al Paolillo Jr. said his interest was piqued by the points the governor made about the equitable distribution of aid, education and economic growth. He pointed out that New Haven educates more than 21,000 children. I think we do a good job, but obviously accountability is an area of interest,” he said.

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