When Bridgeport town and school officials pled their case with state education committee co-chair Senator Thomas Gaffey at a local meeting Tuesday night, they may have heard the answer they were expecting, but I doubt it was the one they wanted.  See story. Faced with a requested 6.9% ($14.3 million) education budget increase for 2008-09, grant reductions, and a new mandate, Bridgeport officials reached out to the long time education leader. They were reportedly told in return not to expect more than what’s already authorized in the state budget for 2008-09, the second year of the state biennium. Keep reading →

The Connecticut Economic Resource Center, Inc. (CERC) released a report earlier this month: Benchmarking Connecticut 2007: A Comparative Analysis of Innovation and Technology. The report is dual focused. Using a host of indicators, it looks at the current concentration of technological and innovative capacity in Connecticut compared to all other states. Then it uses the same indicators to assess growth potential—certainly a key to the state’s future status in a global economy where technological and innovative capacity become increasingly important year by year.

Connecticut appears well placed among the nation’s leaders in most measures of current capacity. The story with regard to future growth is much less favorable. One area I found very interesting deals with what the report calls Human Capital. “Benchmarking” uses six measures to assess Connecticut’s strength in the “Human Capital” category, including the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 8^th grade mathematics test. Keep reading →

A couple of weeks ago, we were hearing about a $260 million state budget surplus and some kind of tax relief package with conceptual support on both sides of the aisle. A few days later the estimated surplus was down to $160 million and support for current year tax relief has been dropping along with it.

Which sort of brings me back to where I left off with my last post. If the shrinking 2007-08 surplus is an indication that economic conditions are deteriorating more quickly or more severely than expected, I think the potential problems ahead for implementing the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) reforms adopted last year loom much larger. Keep reading →

Last year at this time the Governor’s proposed budget for the 2007-09 biennium included $265 new education dollars in FY 2008 and an additional $210 million in FY 2009—a 20% combined hike in state education spending.

The lion’s share of the increase was in education grants to towns—most notably the Education Cost Sharing grant. Acting on the recommendations of the 2007 ECS Task Force, the Governor had earmarked $383 million (81%) of the $465 million total 2-year education increase to ECS. Unprecedented in the grant’s troubled history, the proposed amounts would amount to a 24% increase in ECS over the biennium, and accomplish 35% of the $1.1 billion increase the Task Force had called for in its recommendations to the Governor. Keep reading →

The Governor’s budget announced yesterday confirms her earlier commitment to include a local property tax cap among her priorities for the 2008 legislative session. Raised unsuccessfully last year, such a measure would statutorily limit the ability of cities and towns to raise revenues for essential municipal services, including of course, public schools. The proposed cap of 4% beginning July 1, 2009 would drop to 3.5% in 2010 before settling at 3% in 2111.

Even before the budget announcement, the concept had begun to draw fire from local officials. The Connecticut Conference of Municipalities (CCM) has posted some of this reaction on its website. More on the initial response of these groups to the announcement can be found on the CCM website. Keep reading →

The recent projection of a $260 million state budget surplus for fiscal 2008 seems like pretty good news considering the overall economic picture and forecast. I don’t think a modest surplus is at all surprising given the typical time lapse between trends in big economic drivers–like home construction and sales, the mortgage industry and the stock market–and the impact those situations have on government revenue streams.

Despite a poor last quarter, for example, 2007 was an up year for stocks. If this year’s early market decline worsens and continues through year’s end, the impact on state and federal income tax revenues will be far greater in 2009 and beyond depending on the duration of the economic slump. Also it takes time for local property tax bases to reflect less construction and declining property values. I look for this to become more evident and begin pressuring property tax revenues in 2009 or 2010. Keep reading →

Not even a year into financing a major overhaul of Connecticut’s school funding formula, the economic forecast nationally and locally has turned anything but sunny. There are signs as far away as California and as near as the Statehouse that suggest overcast conditions ahead. On this site, over the days and weeks ahead, we will be discussing these and other issues that could impact school funding in Connecticut, and hopefully engage in a dialogue around all things school finance.

Agree or disagree. Comment on an issue or raise one of your own. It doesn’t need to go any farther than that, but with any luck, maybe some education and fiscal policy makers will POST from time to time. In any case, welcome and come back often. Keep reading →