First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove
First Selectman Jamie Cosgrove (pictured) testified before the state legislature’s Education Committee in Hartford Wednesday, making the case for a $30 million state grant for the renovation and expansion of the Walsh Intermediate School.
He was among a number of town officials from across the state who came before the Education Committee seeking funding for renovating or building new schools.
All did so in the aftermath of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy recent announcement of dramatic changes in how the state plans to fund its public schools for 2017 – 18. At a Board of Finance (BOF) meeting earlier this week, State Rep. Lonnie Reed (D‑Branford) said that 138 Connecticut towns are having their funding reduced.
The state is expecting a $65.2 million shortfall and funding to towns may be in jeopardy. Moreover, the state is looking to the towns to pay a third of the cost of the currently underfunded teachers’ pension costs, a cost that until now was borne by the state.. If that expenditure is approved, Branford’s share would be $2.7 million, which would represent more than 5 percent of this year’s Board of Education budget.
State Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr., State Reps. Lonnie Reed and Sean Scanlon
Reed told the BOF, “This is totally the beginning of war… we can’t tax our way out of this.” She added she believes the teachers’ pension contribution by the towns is “DOA.”
However, Reed stressed that discussions were in the early stages and that the final budget for the town is likely to be very different. Democratic State Rep. Sean Scanlon who represents Guilford and Stony Creek and Pine Orchard in Branford and State Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr. (D‑12th District) agreed with Reed.They appeared before the town’s Board of Finance on Monday.
Education Committee Learns about Walsh
What impact might the state budget deficit have on $30 million in funding anticipated from the state for the Walsh renovation? That is not clear yet but at the hearing in Hartford Cosgrove and Reed outlined the urgent need for the Walsh project.
Reed explained to the legislative committee the Walsh history and the need for the alteration and expansion of the school, which was built in 1971, as an open classroom school with few walls.
Cosgrove said there were “challenges” with the 1971 design for teachers and students alike. He said he thought the proposed project was “financially feasible,” adding “this was the most cost effective project that we could bring before you.”
State Rep. Noreen S. Kokoruda (R‑Madison & Durham) is a member of the legislature’s education committee. She asked Reed what a zero increase in state education funds for the next school year, separate and apart from the Walsh construction, would mean. Reed observed that the budget process had just started and that changes were likely before the process is completed.
Reiterating what she had said at the Board of Finance meeting, Reed said the “optics of who we are, are very different from who we are. We have an enormous amount of diversity, which is growing every year. More than 27 percent of our children are on a free lunch program, and we speak 48 languages in our schools.” She said Branford has many, many condos, many built in the 1970s and 1980s. “So in many, the owners no longer live in them; they rent them out.”
“We are really happy about the diversity we have but it does pose challenges. We are very proud of our up and coming families, but we just want to make sure that all of our kids get the education they need. We do have needs,” Reed said.
Kennedy told the committee that it was time to renovate the Walsh school. …We want to make sure that the education committee understands the needs of our town.”
Scanlon told the legislative committee at its Wednesday public hearing that the Branford delegation “is 100 percent committed to doing all we can between now and the end of the legislative session in June to help the town get this money for Walsh.”
Board of Finance Debates Walsh
Reed, Kennedy, and Scanlon expressed their concerns about the state budget and the local budget and the timing of each on Monday at the town’s Board of Finance meeting. The budgets for the town, including the schools, must be approved before the state budget is finalized. There was uncertainty expressed about the timing issue.
Add to that is the fact that a hearing on bonding for the Walsh school takes place after the state budget is approved in early June. The $30 million the town is seeking is a piece of the overall $88 million project. The town is expected to bond the rest.
Finance Director Jim Finch noted that if the Walsh project was rescinded, as was suggested by at least one BOF member, the town would save $50+ million, but costs would rise. “We may not get a better deal,” he told the BOF.
Scanlon told the BOF that there were five options: Raise taxes, cut discretionary spending, cut labor costs, ask municipalities to bear a higher burden, or a combination of these. He said that schools are our no. 1 priority and that the town needs to seek the “highest possible reimbursement.” He also stressed that it was early in the process.
Kennedy, who with Reed is a member of the powerful state finance committee, has pushed for more time for legislators to review the budget. But he said “it will still come down to the last day.” And he observed that the state was “too fragile” to raise taxes.
“There are people in need in our town…. We need to rebut assumptions about our town,” he told the legislative committee.
Representative Town Meeting (RTM) member Peter Black, speaking before the BOF, expressed concern about the proposed teachers’ pension contribution from towns. “The Rubicon has been crossed,” he said.
BOE Budget Approved
Sally E. Bahner Photo
Board of Education
Meanwhile the Branford Board of Education last week approved its 2017 – 18 budget with an eye toward the state’s fiscal problems. Schools Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez said, “We have tough times ahead of ourselves.”
BOE chair Michael Krause said at the BOE meeting that the budget increase of 1.96 percent was “lean.”
The total operating budget requested is $55,314,698, which covers salaries and contractual obligations. The capital budget is $400,620, which includes technology-related, vehicle, and maintenance expenses.
Hernandez described labor costs as “the big driver.” Included are salaries for teachers, administrators, support staff, and paraprofessionals, as well as nurses and maintenance; all fall under union contracts, which typically are set in stone. Hernandez pegged those increases at 1.6 percent.
In a letter dated Feb. 28 and sent the BOF and other town boards, Hernandez sought contingency fees in the event that the Governor’s request to transfer teachers’ retirement fees by one-third to the town is approved by the legislature.
The governor’s budget contingencies would include elimination of excess costs for special education reimbursement, totaling $507,889 (0.94 percent). That plus the transfer of one-third of teachers’ retirement board costs from state to local, totaling $2,747,784 (5.07 percent), would represent an additional cost of $3,255,673 – or an additional 6 percent added to the town’s BOE budget.
Added to the recommended 1.96 percent increase, it brings the total increase to 7.96 percent or $58,570,371… “if the governor gets what he wants,” said Hernandez.
In the event that the governor’s budget is approved, Hernandez recommended a contingency request of an additional $3,255,673, which was approved by BOE.
The BOE’s budget, along with the town’s proposed budget, must receive final approval from the BOF and the RTM. The BOF then reviews the final budget and sets the mill rate.
Marcia Chambers contributed reporting for this story.
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