ECS Funding Debate Should Focus On Results
To The Editor:
Mitch Bolinsky and I apparently agree on something important: Connecticut’s Education Cost Sharing formula has failed to keep pace with the actual cost of educating our children, leaving our property taxes to shoulder too much of the burden.
That was the point of my original letter, and I’m glad we agree on the problem.
I was disappointed, however, that rather than discussing different approaches to solving it, Mr. Bolinsky questioned my integrity, suggesting that I had stolen my thoughts either from him or AI. Nothing could be further from the truth. My concerns about state education funding are neither new nor borrowed. In 2017, I testified before the Connecticut General Assembly about this very issue, warning that inadequate state education funding would leave Newtown facing difficult choices between higher local taxes and cuts to services. I also wrote in the Danbury News Times, critical of the state’s move toward shifting educational funding obligations to the municipalities.
So, if we agree on the problem, the question for Newtown voters is not who first said it. The question is what has been accomplished.
Representative Bolinsky points to legislation he proposed to increase ECS funding. I appreciate that he recognizes the problem and has introduced a bill. Here is where Representative Bolinsky and I differ, though. I believe effective representation requires more than identifying problems and submitting legislation. It requires building relationships, coalitions, and the support necessary to get other legislators to co-sponsor the bill and turn good ideas into results. Newtown voters can decide which approach they believe will be more effective in Hartford.
On November 3, I’m asking for your vote. You can read more about my ideas at kuisforyou.com.
Michelle Embree Ku
Newtown
The idea that a freshman Democrat would be able to stand up to the special interests and prioritization of urban districts that are the base of that caucus to deliver results for Newtown is laughable – especially someone who could not even build the “relationships, coalitions, and the support necessary” to garner the endorsements of her fellow Democrat Council members ahead of Newtown’s local caucus this spring.
More likely Newtown would see something akin to Leeper in Fairfield, performative actions after vote counting, while privately advancing their party’s interests over their community’s.
Michelle Embree Ku raises valid concerns about local property taxes, but ignores a basic political reality: Representative Mitch Bolinsky serves in the minority in a legislature dominated by a single-party supermajority where minority-party proposals are routinely sidelined. Suggesting that a single minority representative could rewrite the state’s ECS formula is politically unrealistic and disingenuous to Newtown voters.
Despite those odds, Mitch’s CGA track record speaks for itself. He led the charge to protect special education funding, preserve Drug-Free School Zones, safeguard school safety drills, advance science-based structured literacy, and defend homeschooling choices for families.
If Ms. Ku knows how to fix the ECS formula, what has she done to convince her own party—the same party that controls the House, Senate, and Governor’s office? If the supermajority has the votes to fix ECS today, why hasn’t it happened during the 13 years she cites?
Adding another seat to a supermajority that made Connecticut one of the highest-taxed states won’t help Newtown taxpayers. If the current majority hasn’t delivered relief with absolute power, expanding that majority won’t change the outcome.
Newtown’s interests are best served by keeping Mitch in the House and increasing Republican margins to provide real checks and balances. When one party holds every lever of power, accountability disappears. Strengthening the minority ensures our town’s voice is heard, not drowned out.
I think it’s much much more preposterous that a 14 year representative has not been able to do it!