Below are the portions of the Governor’s proposed budget that concern education. You can read the entire budget, summary documents and a PowerPoint presentation on the Office of Policy & Management’s website: http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2958&Q=518400&

In addition, today the Bristol Press published several articles regarding the city budget. The first is a response from the mayor, and the second from the BOE perspective.

Education

  • $152M in additional ECS dollars provided to 117 districts with allocation emphasized to Alliance and other low performing districts.
    • Replaces Title I in ECS formula with Free & Reduced Priced Lunch data
    • Minimum aid reduced from 9% to 2% for wealthy communities
    • Minimum aid for Alliance Districts raised to 10%
    • No town will receive less than they did in 2013
    • ECS per pupil foundation raised from $9,867 to $11,754 (up 19%)
  • $14.1M to expand the Commissioner’s Network of low performing schools to 8 new schools in FY 2014 and 9 more in FY 2015
  • $370K to create an Early Childhood Planning Office at State Department of Education
  • Move $74M in PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) payments to municipalities into ECS funds.
  • $1.8M in FY 2014 for one new state charter school
  • $8.4M in FY 2015 for 3 new state charter schools
  • $110K in FY 2014 for 2 new local charter schools
  • $710K in FY 2015 for 3 new local charter schools
  • Increase Open Choice seats by 784 in FY 2014 and 525 in FY 2015
  • Increase magnet school funding for 10,445 new seats over the biennium
  • Create the Governor’s Scholarship Program for merit and need-based scholarships
  • Save $150M by eliminating funding for state reimbursement of public school transportation and replacing it with a $5M competitive grant to incentivize regionalized transportation
  • Cut funding for longitudinal data systems, RESCs, K-3 literacy pilot, wrap around services and other programs.
  • American School for the Deaf funding preserved at $11,169, 242 in FY 2014 and $11,152,030 in FY 2015
  • Save $70M by cutting from Teachers’ Retiree Healthcare.  Eliminates the state’s share of retiree health costs and municipal retiree health subsidy and requires the TRB health fund to cover those contributions.  Retired teachers’ share continues at 1/3. 

Higher Ed

  • Reallocates fringe benefits from all public higher Ed institutions from the Comptroller’s accounts into higher education block grants
  • $13.5M in each year to fund UConn Health Center fringe benefit differential
  • Bill municipalities for UConn Health Center transports
  • $2B for Next Generation Connecticut at UConn – capital funds, new faculty, expanded enrollment by 1/3, STEM facilities, digital media, etc.
  • $200M in Bioscience Innovation Act over ten years for new researchers, facilities
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