The CT Mirror
In his August state budget proposal, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy gave Branford zero ECS funding for its public schools. This month the governor changed that, giving the town in his latest budget proposal $1.639 million. That’s up over zero but down by $572,506 or 25.9 percent over the 2017 distribution of $2.211.8 million to the town’s school system.
Still, other towns fared worse. Guilford and Madison were still getting zero ECS funding from the state in the governor’s September redo. Click here to read an interactive CT Mirror story on the impact of Malloy’s latest budget proposal on the state’s towns and cities.
Legislative Effort
The state’s legislative delegation, Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr., State Rep. Sean Scanlon and State Rep. Lonnie Reed have been pressing the governor to examine Branford’s school needs in terms of its school population.
“Our Branford delegation has been arguing non-stop that our town’s public school population is growing more diverse and the Governor has been listening,” Reed said in an interview yesterday. “With nearly 30 percent of our students now qualifying for the free and reduced lunch program, we must have state support to provide English as a Second language (ESL) and other essential resources to help these children achieve their full potential.
“In an effort to beat the Oct.1,deadline, Budget negotiations have reached a fever pitch this week. We are making encouraging progress, but we are not there yet. And this most immediate budget hurdle is only the beginning. We have a long road ahead,” Reed said.
Republican leaders are expected to announce their latest plan today. Click here to read about that. Malloy has said that he will have to make major cuts in municipal aid by month’s end if no new budget is adopted.
Under the governor’s latest proposal, which has yet to be approved by the legislature, Branford and all other towns and cities may soon pay potentially expensive teacher pension costs for the first time. In the past the state picked up these pension costs.
Top Democratic leaders and the governor met this past weekend to try to find a way to end the impasse. One decision was to end efforts to raise the state’s sales tax rate, currently at 6.35 percent. Republicans said efforts at bipartisan discussion had failed so far because of disagreements over some of the governor’s proposals. Malloy has relied on tax increases in a variety of new areas, not a position Republicans like.
The governor has been controlling the state’s purse strings under executive order since July 1 because the legislature could not find a way to adopt a budget. The Republicans are scheduled to release their latest budget proposal today.
Last week, the governor decided to ease proposed cuts directed at cities and towns by nearly $775 million in an effort to end a state budget standoff that is now 11 weeks into the new fiscal year.
The governor offered a much more restrained redistribution of state education aid dollars from better-off communities to poorer ones. Instead of sending the 30 lowest-achieving districts an additional $300 million, as he proposed in May, his new plan would funnel them $11 million this fiscal year, according to the CT Mirror.
The next ECS payments to cities and towns would be in October as part of the FY2018 budget — if the state legislature manages to act in the next few weeks.
Click here to read about Branford’s school situation.
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