Board of Education Urges State Representatives to Fight for Funding

Yesterday, the following letter was sent to State Senators Mike McLachlan and Toni Boucher and State Representative David Scribner and Dan Carter by the Bethel Board of Education.

"The Bethel Board of Education implores you to fight for the retention of Bethel’s Education Cost Sharing grant at the level promised by Governor Malloy, i.e. $8,157,837.

"ECS has been held flat for the past 3 years, and promised at this level for the next two years, i.e. 2011-2012 and 2012-2013. When you consider the impact of inflation on educational goods and services, and the impact of wages and benefits tightly negotiated in this awful economic environment, “flat ECS grants” are not flat at all.

"Additionally, the fund allocated to cover Special Ed Excess Cost Reimbursement gets smaller and smaller, while the services mandated to rightfully protect these vulnerable Special Needs children keep growing in number and cost. Bethel has been told not to expect anymore than a 60% reimbursement next school year when by statute we should be receiving 100% of the excess cost incurred to properly educate our Special Needs kids. The estimated additional cost to Bethel taxpayers is approximately $400,000.

"Our Town cannot absorb the burden of less-than-promised ECS money and $400,000 less in Special Ed Excess Cost reimbursement. State employee unions must be brought to the table and take part in the financial solution you each have been aggressively trying to accomplish in Hartford. Our local unions are accepting less pay, are paying more for their health insurance, and are agreeing to less costly pension programs, i.e. Defined Contribution plans. It is time for the State Police, Corrections Officers and State Employees to share in the fix!

"All of us dedicated to providing quality education in Bethel implore you to keep our ECS funding whole and to challenge the appropriateness of the insufficient 60% reimbursement level on SPED Excess Cost.

"The Bethel BOE thanks you as do our 3,000 school children!"