Malloy spending plan ‘avoids disaster’ for Norwalk schools

NORWALK — Norwalk schools would have its primary state education funding restored to $11.2 million, under Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s revised executive order announced Friday.

The original plan would have cut $4.4 million from Norwalk’s Education Cost Sharing grant.

“It avoids disaster,” Norwalk Board of Education Chairman Mike Lyons said. “There’s no way we could’ve avoided mass layoffs, approaching as many as 100 people, if the original proposed cuts in the first executive order of the governor had gone through.”

Though Norwalk schools can breathe a little easier for now, Lyons said he remains cautiously optimistic about future budget plans. The revised executive order would only take effect “in the unlikely event that a state budget is not enacted,” Malloy’s said in a statement.

“We still have to watch what the Legislature does. There was one crazy proposal about making the towns pick up a third of the pension costs for teachers,” Lyons said. “If they did that, that would hit us with $8 million and an increase in expenses.”

The plan would provide $1.46 billion in Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grants to the communities with the highest student needs and the greatest reliance on state assistance, such as Bridgeport, Danbury, Ansonia, Stamford and Norwalk, providing them a grant equal to that of the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Fifty-four towns would receive a portion of last year’s grant, and 85 would receive no ECS help.

The flat funding, however, does not take into account several other state education grants for such things as special education that districts rely on, and which are being cut. For Stamford, the new executive order would mean losing $3.1 million in grants, which Schools Superintendent Earl Kim said the district did not anticipate.

“It’s all bad,” Kim said. “I recognize the challenge the governor and Legislature face but it leaves us with no place to go.”

A total of 25 percent of the ECS payments will be made in early October. Most municipalities and school districts need to make decisions now, with school set to open just before or after Labor Day.

“If you’re Norwalk and you’re desperately waiting for them not to rob you of millions of ECS dollars, it’s very reassuring,” said state Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Wilton, who represents Norwalk, Wilton and Westport. “If you’re Wilton and they’re going to take away some municipal aid funds that you weren’t really counting on but you know you might not get, it’s hard to take that because it’s uncertain that this thing is going to kick in.”

The new plan also does not take into account several other state education grants that are being cut and slashes state aid to towns and cities.

Norwalk would receive none of the $4.9 million it was slated to receive for its Municipal Revenue Sharing grant under the original executive order. Wilton would lose about $550,000 in municipal aid funds and Westport would lose more than $800,000.

However, Malloy’s proposal would add about $40 million in subsidies for nonprofit social service providers.

“But while the restored funds will help buffer or delay some of the most devastating impacts of the budget stalemate, it is not a substitute for a biennial budget,” said Gian-Carl Casa, president and CEO of the Connecticut Community Non-Profit Alliance. “Nonprofit funding remains $150 million below Fiscal Year 2017 levels, putting thousands of programs in jeopardy.”

Malloy said the new plan “reflects the nearly impossible decisions Connecticut must make in the absence of a budget.” He released the original Executive Order Resource Allocation Plan in June and said the plan would satisfy the most pressing obligations on the state.

However, Malloy admitted in a half-hour morning news conference in the Capitol that it is “unlikely” that a two-year, nearly $40 billion budget won’t be finalized in the Legislature. Republicans have withdrawn from negotiations, seeing Democratic plans to hike taxes by a billion dollars as unacceptable.

“It is incumbent upon state leaders to come together and reach an agreement on a biennial budget right away,” Malloy said.

Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff, D-Norwalk, said Malloy’s new plan is good news for Norwalk but wants to make sure to fight for the needs of other towns like Darien, which he also represents.

“Democrats in the Senate have been working hard to produce a balanced budget that meets the needs of our cities and towns,” Duff said. “We intend to caucus with our members next week and continue the progress we have made toward reaching a final agreement.”