NEWINGTON - Lawmakers Rally Local Support for School Funding Overhaul

       By Mark DiPaola

      

       A legislative proposal to expand and fully fund Connecticut’s education cost sharing (ECS) grant formula, as well as remove outplacement tuition costs from local district budgets, would provide Newington with an extra $2.4 million, school finance experts say.

       That was the nonpartisan School+State Finance Project’s pitch to Newington’s Board of Education (BOE) last Wednesday night. Executive Director Lisa Hammersley and State Rep Jeff Currey were there to argue the case for House Bill 5003 -- which would dedicate $275 million to fully funding the ECS formula by 2025, providing districts with more Open Choice reimbursement dollars, and tasking the state with covering the full freight for magnet school tuition.

       “We need a student-centered funding model for all kids in all public schools,” Currey said. “This is going to take an investment, and that’s exactly what this is.”

       Currey, who serves as Co-chair of the legislative Education Committee, says House Bill 5003 answers the call for full and equitable ECS funding.

       ECS grants are the sole need-based education budget supplements provided by the state, and the formula only covers local or regional school districts -- excluding 78,000 students enrolled in other types of public schools -- the School + State Finance Project writes.

       White paper literature on the Project’s website report that 74% of regional magnet school enrollees are students of color. The number is 93% for Charter schools.

       While the state attempts to fill those gaps through other grants, the fixed allotments don’t provide the flexibility necessary to adjust for ever-changing student needs, the Project says.

       But the ECS model has created challenges even for those that qualify for it, according to the group’s research. The formula calculates a district’s grant dollars based on a myriad of considerations that includes student poverty level and multilingual enrollment -- with each factor given a weighted value.

       The multilingual factor’s 15% weighted value, for instance, is too low -- causing ECS funding to lag behind increased need driven by rising enrollment within that subgroup, the Project writes.

       Under the current formula, only four economically disadvantaged districts meet the wealth parameters for consideration under the concentrated poverty rate -- and Bridgeport, New Haven, and New Britain are not among them -- according to the Project.

       Many districts, including Newington, currently receive less than what they’re entitled to under what reform advocates describe as a broken formula.

       In 2017, the legislature established a new formula, and the proposed bill looks to accelerate the phase-in by three years -- overfunded districts bracing for a gradual reduction in ECS funds would undergo the transition on the same 10-year timetable set in 2017.

       “Legislators don’t like their towns losing funding, but this bill doesn’t take from them to give to others,” Hammersley said.

       The bill would also expand the ECS formula to include all types of public-school districts.

       “All the kids would be funded according to their need,” Hammersley said.

       A fully funded ECS formula would net Newington an additional $913,030 by 2025, according to School+State Finance Project.

       Open Choice reimbursement increases would land around $1.1 million, while the elimination of local-level magnet tuition cost share would save the district $407,724.

       “Their proposal for state funding would really benefit Newington,” said Newington Public Schools (NPS) Superintendent Dr. Maureen Brummett. “This will certainly be good for our kids, and those across the state of Connecticut.”

       Fixing the ECS formula, supporters of the bill say, would help the state address long-standing education funding disparities that -- due to Connecticut’s reliance on property taxes -- leave “property poor” communities on the short end.

       The School+State Finance Project expects the legislation to make a significant dent in the education funding gap between Connecticut’s property poor and affluent communities -- a disparity projected to be well north of $700 million.

       “We know funding is not the answer to all problems in terms of performance, but we do think funding is a key component,” Hammersley said. “When you have 30 kids in a Bridgeport classroom with no paraprofessionals and those kids have additional learning needs, that’s not an ideal learning environment.”

       BOE Vice Chair Beth Manke Hutvagner says she knows firsthand -- as a longtime teacher who’s worked in districts that land on both sides of that disparity.

       “I think it would make a huge difference,” Hutvagner said. “Having worked in two very different districts, as far as economics go, I can see how this bill would greatly benefit the state as a whole.”

       Lawmakers proposed a similar bill as federal COVID relief dollars were arriving. Currey says the timing wasn’t conducive to such an aggressive proposal, but that now -- with those grants expiring and education investment a top priority for legislators from both parties -- the plan has renewed momentum.

       “We are at a point where we have folks talking about education like they never have before. We have banded together, both sides of the aisle, to ensure we’re going to be able to get this through,” Currey said. “There’s always such tension and competition between the types of public schools in terms of funding, and it takes a lot of oxygen out of the room. This will hopefully put a button on that conversation so we can get back to focusing on what goes on in the classroom.”