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Newtown Delegation Votes to Protect Education Funding

Posted on June 26, 2018

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HARTFORD – State Representatives Mitch Bolinsky (R-106), JP Sredzinski (R-112), and Will Duff (R-2), along with State Senator Tony Hwang (R-28) voted on Monday to override a veto Governor Dan Malloy made on a law, Public Act 18-35, that would have prevented future governors from making cuts to education funding in the middle of a fiscal year.

It was a key legislative priority for all members of the Newtown Delegation to support this policy because Newtown has been targeted for mid-year funding holdbacks by the governor the past two years. The law had received great bipartisan support when it was initially considered by the General Assembly during the regular legislative session.

Rep. Bolinsky rose and spoke in support of overriding the governor’s veto at today’s House Session stating, “This override is of the utmost importance to Newtown and all towns, across Connecticut. In Newtown, our town and education budgets are formulated months before the state actually arrives at its final allocations and, historically, because we work together to provide two-year projections. Our track record of accuracy has been consistently reliable and, general something I consider to be a solemn promise. Cutting educational funding mid-year breaks the state’s promise to our children and, in my opinion, that’s a complete non-starter. In desperate times, projects should always be sacrificed before people, especially our kids. No governor, not this one or future ones, should have the unilateral power to purge education dollars mid-year. This bill was similar to a concept I proposed and my name actually appears as its first, among 61 co-sponsors. I’m proud that we, in the House voted to override the Governor’s veto. It’s unfortunate that the override did not gather the two-thirds majority needed in the Senate but, there’s always next year.”

Rep. Bolinsky continued, “Until 2016, no governor had ever taken aim at committed educational funding but, this one did and his deep cuts to Newtown and other towns are why I felt so strongly about this measure. Beginning with the 2017 State Budget year, covering Newtown’s 2016-2017 school year, Governor Malloy proposed a careless, arbitrary $752,852 mid-year funding reduction to Newtown Schools. This would have turned our already-approved town budget upside down with a significant, unplanned shortfall. Fortunately, we fought and recovered all but about $50,000 of his cuts and our town made it through without having to pass the shortfall on to local taxpayers. Then, the 2018 State Budget year, he struck harder, proposing a complete $4,243,596 elimination of Newtown’s state education funding for its 2017-2018 school year. We fought until October 2017 to restore his cut, recovering all $4.24 million, plus about $3 million of town aid and averting the Governor’s attempted assignment of $4 million in Teacher’s State Pension Liabilities to Newtown. At the same time, the delegation and I locked in a $324,943 increase for Newtown Schools for our current school year. But, this legislation would go a long way to having the state keep its promises and spare our town and school district a lot of unnecessary uncertainty.”

Rep. Sredzinski said, “Our current governor has gotten into a destructive habit of irresponsible spending on pet projects, then withdrawing funding from local school districts to make up the difference for the spending – this new law was intended to put a stop to these unprecedented actions. Making unanticipated mid-year cuts to municipalities causes chaos for town officials who must scramble to plug the holes in their budgets left by the cuts. This means making cuts to school districts and scaling back core government services that families rely on, and relying on property taxpayers to make up for the rest. I am disappointed that there are still legislators who vote in lockstep with Governor Malloy in spite of the impact his cuts have had on schools across the state. Our current governor’s use of his executive powers is irresponsible and without precedent. The legislature should have acted to take this power away from this governor as well as any future governor.”

Rep. Will Duff expressing major disappointment said, “Stopping the governor’s mid-year cuts to our state education grant was a widely popular proposal amongst the legislators and the residents in my District, especially in Newtown. The bill created budget stability and predictability for our small towns and local schools and school administrators. It’s frustrating to know the will of the people was thwarted today by the Senate Democrats, who walked lockstep with the governor today.”
“We spoke with one voice on behalf of Newtown’s educators, children and families,” Sen. Hwang said. “I was proud to stand with Newtown’s state representatives on this crucial funding issue. At the same time, I was bitterly disappointed that despite our votes to override the governor’s ill-advised veto, they were not enough to get it to the finish line in the State Senate. That’s truly a shame. This bill would have created stability and predictability for our towns and local schools beyond the current budget. I can promise Newtown’s taxpayers this: I am not deterred, and I will continue to stand with Reps. Bolinsky, Sredzinski and Duff in support of common sense policies like this one.”

Today, when the bill was reconsidered in the House, it received a super majority vote of 103-33 to override the governor’s veto. However, when the bill was considered by the Senate it was only passed by a simple majority of 19-10, meaning the requisite super majority, or two-thirds, of the chamber needed to override the action of the governor was not met and the veto was sustained.

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