So far “06106” has been me sounding off on a variety of issues relating to school funding in one way or another. Tax caps, Education Cost Sharing (ECS), Minimum Budget Requirements (MBR), economic climate, local budget news—you get the picture. If you scan the right margin or scroll down—you’ll see the postings to date.
And now the time has come to hear from you. Rather than posting an endless stream of guesses on my part as to what’s on your mind, I need a little help before moving on from here. In keeping with this being an education site, I have an assignment for you. An easy one—and hopefully, worth a couple minutes of your time.
All you have to do is complete one or more of the following phrases and post it as comment on “06106”. By doing so you could kick start a discussion in an area that is most interesting to you and perhaps to others as well.
Here goes:
- My biggest concern about education funding in Connecticut in the year(s) ahead is…?
- The thing about the ECS grant that is most troublesome or the most difficult to fathom is…?
- I think education funding in my town is most likely to be negatively impacted by_____________because…?
- For 2008-09 cost increases that are beyond the control of School Boards are most likely to occur in the area of…?
- A topic not mentioned yet, or in any detail, on “06106” that I would like to discuss is_________because…?
Of course any other comment, suggestion, criticism or observation you would like to make either by posting or emailing me directly is most welcome. Thanks.
3 responses so far ↓
Jerry // March 14, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I would hope that you would be less negative in your postings. All boards understand the issues but there is little help in discussing creative ways around them. Try polling different districts and spread creative solutions to these problems.
Also, your post between 8th grade math scores and economic growth is a stretch. It would be better to take best practices in math and pass them on for guidance. Economic growth has more to do with the tax issues and their related costs to a company than 8th grade math. Get the business to come to the state and more of the twenty something crowd will stay in the state but, that may be outside your realm.
t. carlson // March 15, 2008 at 6:48 am
The thing about the ECS grant that is most troublesome or the most difficult to fathom is how the spirit of the original legislation has been twisted by amendments such as “MBR” to legitimize towns’ authority for not using ANY of the funds for educational expenses (capital improvements or operating expenditures) ?
How can this be clearly explained to the average parent that has a child sitting in a classroom that still has asbestos tile flooring or a 40 year old boiler operating on its last leg for the 10th year?
Senior citizen, Hartford County // March 16, 2008 at 4:54 pm
My biggest concern is that the ECS money that was allocated for my town and all other towns in my DRG, formerly called ERG, did not go directly into the education budget (again). You state correctly in your blog that some educators weren’t happy about the MBR clause that allowed some of the education money to go to tax relief in the recent ECS reform legislation. In Hartford County, NO, I repeat NO, ECS funding went directly as new money to education budgets. In fact, most if not all money was used to offset local budget increases. A nearby community purchased a new fire engine with its money. I am all for fire engines, don’t get me wrong, but when the general public hears and reads that the state has distributed millions of dollars of NEW money for education, that same general public expects to see tangible changes for the better from that new money in their school districts, be those changes in the form of additional needed staff, materials, technology, courses, or professional development. And, of course, the same general public, via Boards of Education, is putting pressure on superintendents on down to increase test scores. The public doesn’t realize that new fire engines are being purchased with ECS funding increases. ECS money is a shell game, pretty much the way NCLB money is a shell game. It seems to me that all too many of the schools and children aren’t benefiting from the state’s ECS increases (which still fall short) and that the local governing authorities have additional money to “keep the tax increases low,” always a popular catch-phrase and slogan from both political parties. If business and communities want Connecticut to be the best, then don’t play the continual games with funding. You can’t have it both ways.
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