Bill Buckbee

HARTFORD – On Monday evening, the House of Representatives met to take up emergency-certified legislation. A central component of the legislation was to provide additional special education funding to Connecticut’s cities and towns. New Milford’s State Representative, Billy Buckbee, voted in favor of the allocation, which provides an immediate injection of funding to New Milford schools, with $40 million going to schools across the state.

“This is the right thing to do, but given our budget constraints, I believe we have more work to do before we conclude our legislative business for the year. This funding is only a temporary solution. The next time we go to the drawing board, we need to come up with something better than a band-aid,” explained Buckbee. “We had a well-intentioned amendment that would have fully funded our school districts here in New Milford and all others by drawing from the existing surplus.”

Republicans proposed an amendment that would have increased the special education funding allocation from $40 million to $108 million. The amendment was voted down along party lines.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, but when you look back at last year – and the fact that no budget adjustment was made – there were better policy choices the legislature could have made. Towards the end of the 2024 session, there was a large handout of ARPA funds that primarily went to higher education. To me, it’s beyond evident that our special education students, who are residents of our state, deserved more resources,” said Buckbee.

The Senate is considering the legislation, where it is expected to pass. The governor will review and likely sign the bill into law.

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