LWVCT Urges Governor to Increase State's Funding of Education Costs 4/14/08

The League of Women Voters of Connecticut supports a system of public education funding that makes available to each community financial resources sufficient to provide a suitable program of educational experiences to each child. We believe the state should…

Fund through grants to towns 50% of the overall total statewide cost of public elementary and secondary education.
Distribute funds in a way that recognizes both the relative ability of different communities to finance schools from local resources and the various factors that influence the cost of educating different children.
Target additional funds toward improving academic achievement in communities with concentrations of disadvantaged children.

Given these beliefs, we are obviously disappointed that your proposed budget adjustments for fiscal year 2009 will neither increase the state’s share of education costs, nor redress inequities in the way funds are currently distributed among towns. The proposals put forward by the legislature’s Appropriations Committee fall similarly short.

However, there are targeted measures within the Appropriations Committee’s budget that the League does support, and we urge you to consider these additional expenditures favorably during your budget negotiations with legislative leaders. These measures include…

$900,000 for the Competitive School Readiness grant program.
$19,747,286 for the Early Reading Success portion of the Priority School Districts grant, plus $500,000 for Early Reading Success Monitors.
$700,000 to replace expiring federal funds for Evenstart Family Literacy Programs.
$2,500,000 for school accountability.
$3,000,000 for Transitional School Districts. These districts are experiencing significant demographic shifts in their student populations, resulting in new needs that cannot be fully met from local resources, particularly in the absence of full ECS funding.
$3,500,000 for the Excess Cost–Student Based grant to meet projected payments.

We wish you well in the hard work of crafting a responsible budget that addresses the unmet needs of Connecticut’s school children in this difficult economic environment.

Sincerely,

Katherine L. Wilson

School Finance Specialist

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