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Reps. McCarty and Cheeseman Join Effort to Save Towns and Schools from Governor Malloy’s Veto

Posted on June 29, 2018

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HARTFORDState Representatives Kathleen McCarty (R-38) and Holly Cheeseman (R-37) voted Monday to override Governor Dannel Malloy’s veto of Public Act 18-35, which would have prevented future governors from making cuts in the middle of a school year to Education Cost Sharing funds allocated by the state budget to individual municipalities.

Although the House voted 103-33 to override the governor’s veto, the effort failed to achieve two-thirds support in the Senate, and so the veto remains in place. By Senate Democrats siding with Governor Malloy, all seven of the governor’s vetoes were sustained in the General Assembly’s special session on Monday. Though these pieces of legislation passed with overwhelming in both chambers earlier this year, the majority party failed to stay consistent in their support and failed to vote in favor of them again.

“This is incredibly disappointing,” said Rep. McCarty, member of the Legislature’s Education Committee. “This bill would have provided municipalities and boards of education with the predictability and stability they need in crafting and adhering to their budgets. Mid-year cuts to education funding by the Executive Branch are devastating to school districts and municipalities throughout the state and should not be tolerated. This bill should be revisited by the legislature in the next session.”

“Towns and schools are already being forced to cut vital programs because of a lack of funding,” said Rep. Cheeseman, who serves on the Higher Education & Employment Advancement Committee. “It is unfair that halfway through the year the state will have the right to pull more funding from them, essentially pulling the rug out from underneath them, and forcing them to look at cutting more programs that they thought they were going to be able to keep. This is not the way to run our state. I am also incredibly disappointed that state senators from the governor’s party, who overwhelmingly supported this bill, did not stand up to him to protect their towns and schools. Their refusal to act also killed several other excellent bills that had earlier passed both chambers with unanimous or near unanimous support.  Monday was a sad day for the residents of Connecticut.”

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