nothin New Haven Independent | Kennedy, Reed Seek ECS “Re-Jiggering”

Kennedy, Reed Seek ECS Re-Jiggering”

Branford legislators State Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr., a legislative newbie, and State Rep. Lonnie Reed, an experienced hand, agree on one word: When it comes to the state’s education cost sharing grant system (ECS), they say the system is broken and needs to be re-jiggered.”

Kennedy, Reed and School Superintendent Hamlet Hernandez went before the state legislature’s Appropriations Committee last week in support of a Senate bill that would send more state education funds back to a number cities and towns, including Branford and the other five towns in Kennedy’s 12th District. The public hearing was televised by CT‑N.

Reed, who began working to fix the ECS formula years ago when she was a member of the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), has watched it get worse over the years. She noted that 25 percent of Branford’s 3,200 students are eligible for free and reduced lunch programs and that the town’s community dining room is overflowing with many new people coming in, all indicators” of changing school needs.

In 2007, when Reed was chairman of the RTM’s Education Committee, she set up a meeting with state legislators seeking ways to fix the same inequitable educational funding system that has long short-changed the town. (Click here to read that story.)

Property Taxes Foot The Bill

The Branford taxpayers are still footing the bill. Seniors are on fixed incomes. The situation is moving toward unsustainable,” she said.

In the past, the legislature has tackled the ECS formula only to return it to the shelf before the session ended. As a result the system hasn’t been upgraded for 22 years. Now state legislators representing 29 towns and cities have endorsed a bill that would send more state education funds back to their jurisdictions.

The decision to seek changes in the ECS formula via the legislative route is a tacit acceptance that a state court case aimed at resolving the way the state pays for education is unlikely to go forward soon. Reed was instrumental in getting Branford to be part of that lawsuit, which she pushed while a member of the RTM

Second, the need to press for the legislation will be led by State Sen. Beth Bye (D‑Bloomfield, Burlington, Farmington and West Hartford), and the chair of the Senate’s powerful Appropriations Committee. Bye will soon lead the effort to get the bill out of committee although she did say during the hearing, as did Kennedy, that a looming deficit may be an issue.

Senate Bill 816 is An Act Establishing a Minimum Level of Funding under the Education Cost Sharing Grant Formula.” The act proposes to fund the minimum level at 50 percent of what the formula would theoretically offer a town — a percentage many towns only dream of. That would mean at least $4 million more a year coming to Branford.

Perception Of A Shoreline Town

Throughout the hearing, legislators said they were adjusting their perceptions about Shoreline towns. From their perspective Branford did not seem to be a town in need. That is a common perception, Reed (pictured) told the Eagle in an interview. They don’t know who we are.”
 
The problem lies in the fact that the state of Connecticut distributes its education grants based not on income but on the size of a town’s grand list. Any town with a shoreline, such as Branford, has a built-in skew. The people living on the shoreline may live in high-end houses and their taxes that fund the schools may be high, but they may not be wealthy.

Yet Shoreline towns get far less in education grants than other towns and cities without a shoreline. The cost to educate a child these days is roughly $14,500 a year but Branford received about $580 per child last year toward that cost. This number used to be lower.

Branford is underfunded by 69 percent or $4.2 million,” School Superintendent Hernandez told the committee in his testimony.

I fully recognize that other districts find themselves in a similar situation as Branford. However being the third highest underfunded district should provide state legislators reason to pause and to consider a logical and supportable pathway to prevent districts from becoming a financially distressed district,” he said.

Hernandez Makes the Case

In answer to a question posed by Sen. Bye, Hernandez described his experience with the Hamden School District, where he served as a deputy superintendent and his experience in Branford since his arrival as superintendent five years ago. What happened to Hamden, he told Sen. Bye, could well happen to Branford.

In Hamden, Hernandez saw an ongoing influx of diverse students whose needs became greater each year. Each year these students required more and more programs to meet their growing needs. For them English was a second language. Often they performed below grade academically. And they were kids with poverty issues who qualified for free and reduced lunch programs.

Hamden officials kept telling the state that its ECS formula needed to be adjusted. The state did nothing until the problems and performances reached critical levels. Suddenly, Hamden needed to be accommodated by a special program for failing school districts. The Alliance Program is located here.

Branford, he indicated, is beginning to experience many of Hamden’s problems. He drew the comparison between the two towns in order to put the issue in context – not just for Branford but for the many communities who have an aging demographic, or a fixed income population yet face an influx of students with many needs.

Hernandez told the committee that Branford’s free lunch program, an indicator of poverty, has increased from 20 percent to 25 percent in the last four years, that 16 percent of the current population is mobile or transitory, in and out of the school system, a situation that stretches resources. He said the school system now serves students who speak 40 different languages.

Branford’s appropriation from the town continues to be lower, yet emerging needs continue to increase. This places a greater burden on local taxpayers and adversely impacts all students and disproportionately impacts children in poverty. In Branford, that means one out of every four children,” he said.

If this legislation is adopted it would mean that towns like Branford, which receives a little under $1.9 million yearly, would get far more.

Overfunded” Hits A Nerve

Kennedy noted that some towns are over-funded and some are under-funded. One in four children in Branford lives in poverty he repeated. This is an issue of fairness. The time has come to re-jigger the cost sharing formula.”

Kennedy’s use of the word over-funded” drew an immediate rebuke from Republican State Rep. Noreen S. Kokoruda, who represents Madison and Durham, towns in Kennedy’s 12th District.

She said she was talking about fair funding, especially for seniors. This has nothing to do with over-funded,” she declared. She said seniors in Guilford, in Branford (where Kennedy lives), and in Madison had purchased their homes 30 or 40 years ago. “…We have high property values, but they don’t have the ability to pay taxes,” she said.

Kennedy replied, I don’t think we are talking about different things. I think basically we are saying the same things. I am talking about fully funding the cost-sharing program, fully funding the state’s obligation. But we also have a fiscal crisis in our state. As you know, since this formula has been enacted there have been communities that have experienced changes.

This bill before this committee gives us an opportunity to rectify and acknowledge the population and demographic changes that have taken place over the last several years. What we are talking about now are kids in poverty,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy observed that he was new to the legislature.

I know you are new,” Kokoruda said, and I know you are doing a great job. But I am telling you people may be living in $350,000 homes and they can’t pay the local taxes and their utility bills. They would love to sell their houses, but where will they go?” 

She said when she was raising her son in the 1980s in Madison, the state of Connecticut paid 24 percent of the education budget. They now pay 3 percent. This has nothing to do with income.” Then she smiled, adding, You will learn, I am sure.”

Kennedy did not miss a beat. I hope you can school me on these issues,” he said.

A number of other Republican representatives on the committee told Kennedy they wanted to work with him on this issue.

Kennedy said he apologized if he used the wrong word. I hit a bit of a nerve,” he admitted. He told the committee, My district has six small towns. I think there is a misconception. There are needs in the cities. But there are poor families in these towns.” Somehow, he said, one doesn’t associate poverty with the shoreline.

Sen. Bye said the ECS formula has long been in need of re-structuring. Each year, she said, the legislature looks at it and then decides we can’t take this on.” In the meantime, the problems are intensifying, she said.

This might be the year,” Kennedy said. State Rep. Gail Lavielle (R‑Wilton, Norwalk and Westport) said, I hope we will work together on this principle.”
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