Hartford Courant: Democrats Want To Scrap Malloy Plan To Revise Education Formula

Responding to an outcry over Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's plan to provide more money for poor districts and to slash state assistance for wealthier schools, legislators took up a proposal that largely preserves the existing funding formula for local education.

"I'm doing my best right now to help ensure that school systems that have been calling, emailing, faxing, inundating my home with letters are able to get through the next couple of years doing a good job," said Rep. Andy Fleischmann, co-chairman of the education committee, "and not feeling that key funding is being yanked away from them and making it impossible for them to accomplish their mission."

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Katie Roy, the director and founder of the Connecticut School Finance Project, told the committee that "rather than addressing the fundamental flaws in Connecticut's school finance system, [the proposed bill] would continue the practice of funding Connecticut's public school based on patchwork policies, inconsistent fixes and block grants, which are based on historical precedent, rather than enrollment, student learning needs, and community wealth, for another two years."

"For far too long," Roy said, "Connecticut has tinkered around the edges of fixing our state's school finance system, rather than addressing these problems head on."

Under the education committee's proposal, West Hartford would receive $22.1 million next year, $3.59 million more than the governor's proposal of $18.5 million, according to an analysis done by the Connecticut School Finance Project.

Read the full article at http://www.courant.com/education/hc-education-cost-sharing-revision-20170320-story.html