The Connecticut Council of Small Towns has asked legislators to change a law that requires them to spend at least the same amount of money on education as they did the year before.
COST, which represents towns with populations up to 30,000, argues that the so-called minimum budget requirement is unfair for towns with declining enrollment or those that have achieved savings through insurance changes, consolidating programs and other measures.
The council is using a projection from UConn’s Connecticut State Center to bolster its position: That the number of school-age children will fall by 10 percent in the next 10 years.
The current law allows schools with enrollment declines to budget $3,000 less per student, capped at half a percent of the prior year’s budget. Municipalities are supporting legislation that would allow towns with shrinking enrollment to save as much as 50 percent of its per student costs and to increase the cap to 3 percent of the prior year’s budget.
House Bill 7019 is opposed by the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education, which says current law already allows the commission of education to approve additional reductions for school districts that save money through regional collaboration and other measures. Allowing per-pupil savings of 50 percent would leave many school boards unable to pay for salaries, benefits and other costs, CABE said.
