Date: Fri 11-Apr-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-legislators-budget

Full Text:

Legislators And School Members Review State Budget

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

Like ducks in a row, four area legislators lined up Tuesday night across the

table from Newtown Board of Education members in what has become a yearly

ritual - the sharing of information and exchange of opinions about pending

educational bills and their possible effect on Newtown children.

School board members welcomed the state legislators - Julia Wasserman, Fred

Lovegrove, Bill Varese and John Stripp - and were eager to learn how those

lawmakers thought Governor John Rowland might manage to make good on his

promise to trim taxes statewide.

Would it happen, as board member Susan Hills feared, "on the backs of our

children."

Although none of the legislators serve on the state education committee that

writes the proposed bills, they share close ties to Newtown and are familiar

with local issues.

They promised to convey board members' concerns to the General Assembly, but

they also didn't want to hold out false hope. There would definitely be cuts,

they said. The only question was where those cuts would fall.

"We're treading water right now. A lot of bills are still held up in

committee. But the bottom line remains the same: both Newtown and Bethel are

way at the top of the list as having been over-funded in the past," said Rep

Varese.

He was referring to a statewide formula known as the Educational Cost Sharing

grant, that has been applied to all school districts. It takes into account

certain socio-economic indicators, percentage of minority population served by

the schools, students' test scores and other factors. Using this formula, the

state calibrates how much grant money each district should be awarded in a

given year.

The bias of ECS toward urban areas continues to gall many school board members

and administrators, who said Tuesday night they felt it was ironic that the

reward for efficient management of local school dollars would ultimately

result in local residents paying higher taxes - just the opposite of what the

governor had promised.

Newtown board member Amy Dent called it "political maneuvering" of the worst

sort.

"You don't pay teachers, buy textbooks, fund technology or pay to maintain

your school buildings without spending money," said Mrs Dent.

Rep Wasserman agreed that, overall, Newtown schools are doing their job the

best they can.

"I know what goes on here, I've lived here almost 40 years. But there are

districts in the state that are not well run. And that group includes urban

schools as well," Rep Wasserman said.

As the evening wore on, the legislators and board members discussed several of

the pending bills that have been drafted by the General Assembly to address

the state Supreme Court's Sheff vs O'Neill decision.

Those bills dealt with language proficiency, funding of charter schools and

magnet schools and construction grant applications. There were also proposed

acts concerning early childhood education and school district accountability

to be considered.

Rep Wasserman reminded everyone in the room that although the bottom line

probably wouldn't change, nothing was set in stone yet. Rep Varese echoed her

statement.

"We're still at the war games stage. I don't think anyone knows what the

outcome will be, give or take $30,000, how the $10 billion will be allocated,"

Rep Varese said.

He summarized the situation in this way: "The question is, where are they

going to rob Peter to pay Paul?"