Wait, What?

Malloy to Small Town School Districts: DROP DEAD!

Mar 15

jonpeltoEducation Reform, Malloy, Stefan Pryor Education Reform, Malloy 9 Comments

If Governor Malloy’s “Education Reform” initiative is being driven by Connecticut’s high achievement gap can someone explain why his “Education Reform” bill goes out of its way to destroy Connecticut’s small rural schools?

In another – “what the hell is he thinking” moment – Section 11 of Malloy’s Senate Bill 24 includes language which would threaten the existence of at least 41 small town school districts.

No really – it would!

Here is what Section 11 of Senate Bill 24 does:

Starting in July 2015, the State Department of Education would begin reducing a small towns Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula if the school district has fewer than 1,000 students and their per-student cost is at least 10% above the statewide average.

Of course, many small towns do have slightly higher per pupil costs because even though they are small they must still provide a wide range of services that all schools must have, including a daily hot lunch, physical education, a school nurse, school counselor, etc.

However, since the ECS formula is already based on a variety of criteria including the number of students and the town’s poverty rate, property tax payers in most small towns are already paying a premium to have a small local school.

It’s one thing to provide incentives to urge communities to create regional school districts, but Malloy’s plan uses a sledge-hammer and on-going punishment and the consequences will be to destroy many of Connecticut’s small rural schools.

Malloy’s anti-small town plan will spiral the local district out of business.

Think through what happens:

• For years, the small town has been working to maintain its local community school.

• Now, since the cost of maintaining the small comprehensive school means a slightly higher per-student cost, the state MUST reduce the amount of education aid going to that town.

• The voters of that town, in turn, decide to raise their local property taxes to an effort to keep their local school functioning.

• This means the town’s per-student cost remains higher than the statewide average so the state – again – cuts their education funding.

• And the pattern goes on and on – the more the town tries to save its school the more the state of Connecticut punishes the local citizens until they give up and allow this local school to go out of business.

And that raises the question – instead of being outraged, the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education (CABE), the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) and the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) are literally walking away from their members at the very moment those communities need their help the most.

And where are the Democratic and Republican Legislators who represent these towns.

Whatever happened to the concept that people have a moral, ethical and legal obligation to represent their constituents, members and people?

But what is most amazing of all is that this absurd approach only applies to small towns. 

Big cities can have small neighborhood schools, suburbs can have small neighborhood schools —- it’s just the small rural communities who are forced to close their neighborhood schools.

Here is a list of some of the school districts that would find themselves a target under this unfair provision.

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