With Permission
Walsh Rendering
UPDATE — After months of crossing its collective fingers and moving forward step by step with its plan for the Walsh Intermediate School renovation amid the state budget deficit and stalled budget, word was received yesterday that the anticipated $30 million via a state grant is a go.
State Rep Sean Scanlon (D‑98), made the announcement, praising the budget as bipartisan. The bond is separate from the budget, but could not be awarded until the budget was determined.
“Government has a job to make sure our schools are safe and the environment is conducive to learning. I’m proud to have worked hard with my colleagues [state Rep. Lonnie Reed and state Sen. Ted Kennedy, Jr.] to ensure we got this new and important funding to benefit our middle schools,” Scanlon said in a press release.
Scanlon also represents Guilford, which received $713,799 in funding to replace the original, 50-year-old windows at Baldwin Middle School
The Branford legislative delegation worked hard to secure the grant, they said.
Kennedy, who represents the 12th Senate district, told the Eagle, “As a member of the legislature’s Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee, I was able to successfully advocate for more than $30 million in state bonding to help renovate Branford’s Walsh Intermediate School.
“At a time when Connecticut is cutting back on spending and capping state bonding, I was still able to convince my colleagues that this project is a good investment for the children of Branford.”
In September Reed went rogue and subsequently endured her share of criticism from fellow Dems, when she and four other House Dems voted with the Republicans on a proposed budget that she said was more beneficial to Branford than was the Dems budget. Three breakaway Senate Democrats also enabled the Republican version of the budget. .
Endorsing the Republican budget subsequently led to recent weeks of bi-partisan discussions between the Republican and Democrat leaders. Ultimately they agreed on a budget this week, one she voted for. Reed also sits on the Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee.
“It was a long, agonizing budget battle. I really put myself on the line in the fight for a genuine bipartisan result and I am grateful that the strategy worked; but this budget is by no means a solution to the huge challenges that await us,” she told the Eagle.
“We have exploding fixed costs and a monumental budget gap threatening our future unless we truly tackle our structural deficits. That requires an innovative game plan to set us on the path to achieving long-term fiscal solvency and economic growth.
“I am already in meetings designed to tee up such a plan and I won’t stop until we get there.”
State Funding for Walsh School Project
The bonding used for school projects statewide is through the Office of School Construction Grants and Review (OSCGR), which was in danger of being cut. It was a topic of discussion a recent Board of Education and Public Building Commission meetings although officials remained optimistic that the project was far enough ahead in the pipeline to escape serious cuts. In the end, however, Branford will receive $30,385,909, a 35.36 percent state reimbursement share.
Fate of ECS Grants
CT Mirror
Branford ECS Chart
Apart from the bonding for Walsh, Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) grants were cut by $31.4 million this fiscal year, but Branford experienced only a 5 percent decrease from $2,211,848 (2017) to $2,101,256 (2018). The amount is expected to rise to $2,305,373 in 2019, according to the CT Mirror.
Educational Cost Sharing grants are the state’s primary education grants and take up three-quarters of the state’s municipal aid. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has been a proponent of redistributing the funds to benefit more impoverished districts.
Total municipal aid to the town is $4,248,297 in 2017; $4,037,487 in 2018; and $3,985,516 in 2019.
Teacher Pension Costs
The final legislative budget does not shift a portion of skyrocketing teacher pension contributions onto cities and towns, as the governor had proposed. Towns had opposed the move.
Among the line items is an increase from 6 percent to 7 percent in the annual contribution of teachers to their pensions, which works out to an average of $775.
Approval of the $41.3 billion two-year spending plan ends a 118-day impasse. The governor has yet to say whether he will sign the veto-proof budget.
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