May 7, 2015

Bolinsky Works for Greater Local Control of Education Funding

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HARTFORD- State Rep. Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) supported legislation which increases flexibility for towns to reduce their minimum educational budget requirement (MBR) in response to declining student enrollment, a provision not currently permitted under state law.

The bill HB- 7019, An Act Concerning the Minimum Budget Requirement, minimum spending requirements for local education would be relaxed to allow towns to better reflect declining enrollment in their budgeting. Top performing school districts would be granted the most flexibility, with Alliance District schools exempt from the provisions in the legislation.

Rep. Bolinsky, who is a member of the Education committee said, “This act allows high-performing school districts like Newtown’s to meet the challenges of declining enrollment by considering implementation of best-practices to increase operating efficiencies within the district. It actually allows the “Top 10% Performance Districts” to reduce their educational spending, as long as the plan does not adversely affect the district’s academic excellence. It also requires approval of the district’s Board of Education to assure that our high educational standards are maintained. I think it will lead to some very lively debate in Newtown as enrollment continues to decline and segments of our population call for ways to provide property tax relief.”

Currently, the State of Connecticut has Minimum Budget Requirement (MBR) rules which prevent municipalities from dropping education funding below specified amounts. Spending reductions by Boards of Education (BOE) are currently limited to .5% per year.

The bill would increase the allowable spending reductions by a BOE to 1.5% or 3% for declining enrollment, based on the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch. In addition, a local BOE can apply for approval of further cuts from the state Department of Education. The top 10% performing school districts do not have a spending reduction cap and do not need an SDE signoff.

The legislature enacted the Minimum Budget Requirement MBR ten years ago to ensure that education cost sharing (ECS) funding for each of the 169 towns was being spent on education. Since then, school enrollment has declined in many districts and the result has been a number of school districts struggling under MBR due to declining enrollment.