Join the discussion.

Inklings News

Join the discussion.

Inklings News

Join the discussion.

Inklings News

[October 2017] Lack of state budget threatens cuts to schools

Zach Horowitz ’19

The Connecticut Teachers Union sued Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy for imposing a $140 million cut to education funding under his executive order on Oct. 11. However, while many public school districts across Connecticut were blindsided by the budget situation, Westport was prepared.

“I applaud the work of the Board of Finance and Board of Education last spring when we began to think about our planning for this budget season,” Dr. Colleen Palmer, Superintendent of Westport Public Schools, said. “The Town of Westport assumed we would not get any support for education. At this point in time, we’re not anticipating any revenue coming in from the state.”

Connecticut is the only state in the country that has not enacted a budget for the fiscal year that began on July 1. Governor Dannel Malloy has vetoed the proposed budget by the GOP several times, resulting in Malloy having to manage the budget under executive order until legislators from both parties can buckle down on a compromise.

The state of Connecticut faces a deficit of over $3.5 billion and has gone over 100 days without enacting a budget. Lawmakers are getting frustrated with Malloy’s staunch vetoes. Malloy’s reason for vetoing the proposed budget from the GOP was outlined in the CT Mirror.

Malloy criticized the proposed budget for its “legally risky cuts to state employee pension contributions; insufficient aid to keep the City of Hartford out of bankruptcy; deep cuts to public colleges and universities; and huge savings the administration would have to achieve after the budget was in force,” the CT Mirror reported.

Republicans, including state senator Toni Boucher from the 26th district, who has been a strong advocate for the GOP proposed budget and is adamantly opposed to Malloy’s veto, believes that the budget proposed by the GOP was the ultimate solution that people from both aisles could agree on.

“When we put an alternative proposal on the table a couple weeks ago, we were shocked to see that enough Democrats crossed the aisle that our budget proposal passed both the senate and the house,” Boucher said. “[This is] because people were desperate; desperate because money for our school system and our towns were being cut so severely that something had to be done.”

Legislative leaders are currently back to negotiation to figure out a final budget deal. This time, Malloy is sidelined from negotiation but will remain a part of the process through his communication with the press.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Comments (0)

All Inklings News Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *