Rell Task Force To Study Education Funding Formula

HARTFORD (AP) — Governor M. Jodi Rell is forming a task force to study the state’s formula for distributing education funds to cities and towns.

Rell said the task force will address disparities in how Education Cost-Sharing, or ECS, funds are handed out. Education aid accounts for just under $2 billion, or about 14 percent, of the state’s annual budget.

“I have long believed that our ECS formula is flawed and frankly unfair in many ways,” Rell said. “Many towns are shortchanged to the tune of millions of dollars a year. Some towns receive pennies back for the money they send to the state. Others receive many multiples of the dollars they pay.”

The state distributes education funding based on a complicated formula that takes into account poverty, tax bases, and other factors.

The formula was created after a judge ruled that the state has a constitutional obligation to adequately fund public schools.

Rell said homeowners face high property tax bills in towns that receive less education aid than they send to the state.

The task force will be headed by Office of Policy and Management Secretary Robert Genuario, a former lawmaker. Appointments will be made by Rell, a Republican, and Democratic legislative leaders.

Rell said she expects the task force to hold hearings and draft recommendations that will be considered during the 2006 legislative session, which starts in February.