Thanks to Democrats for helping New Britain schools.

I would like to offer my sincere thanks to President Obama, Congressman Murphy and others for their courageous decision to approve what, for New Britain, will mean $4.3 million that will class sizes down by calling back teachers who were to be laid-off.

Their decision to approve the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act was against the backdrop of very ugly, partisan attacks, so Obama, Murphy and others deserve credit for sticking to their principles and doing what is right for New Britain, Newington and our communities' children.

As I said in my follow-up to my earlier post, the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act does not allow the state to retain this increased funding in the state budget - something I was advocating against, in any case. However, this law did place in the Governor the sole power to decide how this increased education funding is to be distributed among the state's school districts.

The law gave Gov. Rell two choices: using the same formula as the Education Cost Sharing Grant (ECS) or the federal Title I grant formula. The ECS and Title I grant systems have different missions and, as it turned out, using the Title I formula to distribute the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act education funding would have been much better for New Britain. If Gov. Rell chose to use this formula, New Britain would be receiving around $5.7 million in increased education funding. While all school districts are struggling, New Britain's is in a desperate position, so using the Title I formula was just the right thing to do.

However, Gov. Rell, instead, chose to use the formula that set the funding for New Britain at $4.3 million, $1.4 million less. Rell's decision also negatively affects New Britain kids by denying the state vocational-technical high schools, which includes Goodwin Tech in New Britain, $2 million, and by denying the Capital Region Education Council (CREC) almost $700,000 that would have been used to operate inter-district magnet schools that New Britain kids attend.

New Britain is not alone in being disadvantaged by Gov. Rell's decision. All of Connecticut's major cities took a hit (rough estimates):

Hartford	-$7,897,080.24
New Haven	-$3,993,381.15
Waterbury	-$3,497,923.42
Bridgeport	-$2,861,758.38
Stamford	-$1,884,272.46
New Britain	-$1,431,451.33
Norwalk	-$1,214,856.11

Meanwhile, her action appears to have provided more funding for some of the wealthiest towns in the state.

It is not surprising that Gov. Rell would choose to send less funding to the cities, since she has consistently opposed funding for the PILOT (Payment In-Lieu of Taxes). PILOT provides funding to municipalities, like New Britain (and Newington), that have a lot of hospital, college and state facilities that are exempt from property taxes. Because PILOT funding is important property tax relief for cities like New Britain, I have advocated for increasing it, while Gov. Rell has insisted that it be cut.

That said, the $4.3 million increase won by Congressman Murphy and President Obama will go along way to averting a crisis in New Britain's schools. They and others deserve a lot of credit and thanks.

Of course, there is still a lot more to do to ensure New Britain's kids a quality education.  As I wrote in a previous post, better policies are needed at the state level...

even after having increased state education aid to New Britain by 27% over the years, this year, I have been advocating both for reforms that would increase support for local schools and for using last year's budget surplus to increase state education funding for distressed municipalities like New Britain

...and in New Britain City Hall...

New Britain schools are in an especially bad position - mostly because of years in which City Hall has refused to provide much, if any, over the barest possible minimum and has refused to accept increased state support under the state inter-district magnet school program

...to bring the improvements that are needed. We need to come together as a community to get this done.

In the meantime, much thanks are in order for the leadership of President Obama, Congressman Murphy and others for what the Education Jobs and Medicaid Assistance Act does for our local schools and kids.

The recently approved federal education aid should go to schools, not the state budget.

Like every state budget I ever had to consider approving, I agree with some parts of the current state budget and disagree with others. In the end, I, and all other legislators, have to decide whether the good parts of the final budget compromise outweigh the bad parts enough to support it. While there was enough good in the current state budget for me to approve it, there is a lot in it that I strongly disagree with.

One of those things was the decision, first proposed by Gov. Rell, to use increased federal education aid to keep the state Educational Cost Share (ECS) grants the same, as opposed to finding other money to maintain state education funding and adding new federal education funding to the state ECS funding. Especially since Gov. Rell proposed tens of millions of dollars in cuts to local aid, just protecting state education funding from cuts was a victory. But, while this is better than a cut, I have not been satisfied with the funding level as it is.

That is why, even after having increased state education aid to New Britain by 27% over the years, this year, I have been advocating both for reforms that would increase support for local schools and for using last year's budget surplus to increase state education funding for distressed municipalities like New Britain.

Since I wanted increased federal aid to increase support for local schools in the first place, I am pleased that the new federal legislation that, among other things, is designed to avert teacher layoffs and keep class sizes as low as possible, has rules that appear to require that this funding be distributed directly to local school districts. Apparently, the federal law allocating this funding gives the Governor the sole power to decide how it is to be distributed. So I call on Gov. Rell not to seek to avoid the intent of this legislation to pass this funding on to the local schools.

All school districts are struggling right now, but New Britain schools are in an especially bad position - mostly because of years in which City Hall has refused to provide much, if any, over the barest possible minimum and has refused to accept increased state support under the state inter-district magnet school program.

All of this, and the New Britain Mayor's decision this year to illegally withhold $1.5 million of the school funding that was allocated by the City Council, leaves the New Britain school district facing a loss of 112 teaching positions that will increase class sizes and harm the quality of education. At this time, more than any, it is important that Gov. Rell not seek to stand in the way of the newly approval federal education aid going to our local schools.

If my calculations are incorrect, I project that this new federal funding, if it is distributed by the ECS formula, would increase New Britain schools' funding by over $4.2 million.

And, these same calculations show that Newington's education funding would increase by over $700,000.

The $4.2 million for New Britain schools, plus the $1.5 million currently being withheld by the Mayor, would seem to be enough to reverse all of the teacher layoffs and nearly eliminate the teacher staffing cuts - keeping class sizes down and maintaining education quality.

That would avert a real crisis in New Britain. So I ask Gov. Rell to pass this new federal funding on to our local schools.

---

Update August 17th: From what I have been hearing, there is wide agreement that this new federal education funding must me passed on by the state to local schools and not retained in the state budget. Unless I hear otherwise, I do not think that there will be an effort to stand in the way of this. So the question now is what formula the Governor will use to distribute this funding among school districts.

With new surplus, state should provide additional funding for urban schools.

The budget decisions of the past two years have been very difficult. In order to close the multi-billion-dollar state budget deficit, I and other legislators cut billions of dollars from the budget - difficult cuts that reduced funding for important services I care about in our state. Even with these cuts, we worked hard to ensure that important public services were maintained.

One of the things that was not cut was state aid for local schools. This is one of the largest items in the state budget, so even modest increases in state aid costs a lot in the state budget. Gov. Rell had produced tens of millions in cuts in state aid - which would have meant large education cuts - so preventing these cuts was a victory that has kept the difficulty of local budgeting from being that much worse.

But, even this year, with massive budge cuts going on, I still fought for changes in education funding that would have increased support for local school districts and, especially for cities like New Britain, avoided the difficulties they presently face. Even though other state legislators, this past year, were reluctant to make the significant changes that I was proposing, the ideas I put forward are worth pursuing when our state has a new governor.

After all these massive budget cuts, it was refreshing to read, today, that State Comptroller Nancy Wyman announced that our work to cut the budget and some rebounding in the economy have resulted in a state budget surplus that has risen to $242.9 million. I certainly would agree that this does not change caution and discipline we need to maintain balance in the state budget, since there are still deficits projected for future years.

However, local school budgets are badly hurting right now - and things are especially harsh in New Britain, where years of neglect by City Hall left the local schools under already tenuous conditions even in the good times. This neglect has made a situation that, in these difficult times, is stressful for many communities an absolute disaster in New Britain.

New Britain City Hall has a responsibility, now, to act to ameliorate the larger class sizes that are the result if its years of neglect, and whatever is done on the state level to make things easier does not relieve New Britain City Hall of that responsibility. However, with the growing state surplus for the year just ending, I would like, once again, to open up the question of what the state might be able to do to help.

That is why I am proposing that the state take a small amount of this past year's budget surplus to increase the Priority School District grant that would help schools in communities like New Britain.

I know that some politicians in our state might respond to my call by saying something like, "There goes a Democrat, wanting to spend again as soon as there's a dime of surplus." But, I would challenge anyone inclined to say that to look at the situation in the New Britain schools. Granted, the City of New Britain could have, should have and still can do more, but - as I have always advocated - as much funding as the state can provide helps maintain the quality of education in New Britain schools.

While the real education funding victory these past two years was, indeed, shielding state Educational Cost Sharing grant funding from cuts, I will not give up in advocating for an increase - especially when it can make such a difference here and now.

I hope that my colleagues in the legislature will give strong consideration to returning to special session to take up my proposal.

Busy morning speaks to important priorities, like health care and education.

This morning was one of those times, as a state legislator, when I had to try to be in three places at the same time.  This is pretty common, but this morning's events struck me in that they touch on some very important values – like health care and education – the support for which is in real question in the difficult budget debate underway right now.

One event was a visit to the Cedarcrest Hospital in Newington, which is a state mental health facility that Gov. Rell's administration is trying to shut down.  Many people have real concerns her decision to remove these important services will result in people with significant mental health needs falling through the cracks and into desperate situations without the help they need.

On top of this, Gov. Rell is proposing deep cuts to nursing homes and hospitals.  Nursing homes have already been reeling – closing down and reducing staff because of years of funding that has not kept up with rising costs.  Now, Gov. Rell proposes a devastating blow to them.

Meanwhile, hospitals, which are struggling because, in the bad economy, more people without health insurance need their services.  Gov. Rell's cuts would seriously damage hospitals at just a time when we really need them.

Another important event was a meeting at New Britain General Hospital between local early childhood education advocates and the Graustein Memorial Fund.  The Graustein Fund has made a very significant commitment of funds to the program that I wrote about earlier, directed at improving education, well-being and prospects in life for very young children.

The problem is that the funding from the Graustein Fund is matching funding and it depends on the state keeping its own funding commitment.  That is why it is so unfortunate that Gov. Rell's plans call for cutting this important matching funds.  Gov. Rell's plan would cut a good number of things that benefit children like the Children's Trust Fund, early childhood education services, pre-natal services, after school programming, libraries and more.

There is a lot of unfortunate rhetoric that has been thrown around in the budget debate.  For example, Democrats in the state legislature have made billions of dollars of cuts in the state budget – many difficult cuts – but Gov. Rell and fellow Republicans keep falsely saying that there have not been budget cuts.

Just as bad is rhetoric that talks about budget frugality in pithy political terms in  sound bites on the evening news, but ignores the importance of the services that, in the real world, that are being cut and the harm caused when they are gone or greatly reduced.

We need leadership in our state that rises above this and helps us to approve a budget that balances the budget, not just in dollars and cents, but in the values we all should share.

Local planning report shows change needed to improve opportunities for young children.

A well-done report showing the need to improve education for young children  in New Britain will be released tonight at the Vance Village School.

The Leadership Work Group, a project of the New Britain Discovery Collaborative is releasing the report, "Blueprint for Improving The Lives of New Britain’s Young Children Birth Through 3rd Grade".  This report is very thorough, and the parents and other community participants, especially Merrill Gay of the Discovery Collaborative, deserve thanks for their hard work in getting it done.

The report focuses on improving the education and well-being of children from birth to the third grade, based on evidence showing that children who fall behind by the third grade are more likely to have difficulty in many ways the rest of their lives.  It has been shown that maintaining a child's well-being and educational opportunity in every one of these first years of life is critical for a lifetime of successful learning and achievement.

The report show that the challenges facing New Britain's children are great.  Here are just a few troubling statistics (from the report):

• 36% of third graders read at grade level, the 2nd lowest level in the state
• 15-20% of children have insufficient language, literacy and numeracy skills when they arrive at kindergarten
• Only 10% of children starting kindergarten in 2008 were rated fully ready by their teachers
• 39% of children starting kindergarten in 2008 were perceived by their teachers to not be ready
• 21% of children arrive at kindergarten with no preschool experience

And the report discusses how other factors, such as these, lead to poor academic opportunities for children:

• poverty among New Britain children is great - 62.7% of children are eligible for free or reduced price meals at school
• 300 children are on the waiting list for infant/toddler childcare
• 9.8% of babies are born at less than 5.5 lbs., exceeding the state average of 8%
• 16% of babies are born to teen mothers, more than double the state average of 6.5%
• 37% of pregnant women do not receive adequate prenatal care
• Obesity rates among young children are rapidly increasing: 19.4% of 4 year olds are obese, 18.1% of 3 year olds are obese
• The 63% of children who rely on HUSKY face significant barriers in accessing any type of specialty care
• Despite improvement in preventive dental care, access to restorative dental care remains very limited

The report breaks down the problem confronting New Britain children and families into a series of indicators for improvement...

A. Reducing the number of Low Birthweight Babies
B. Increasing the number of Mothers with a High School Diploma
C. Reducing the rate of Obesity in 3 and 4 year old Children
D. Increasing the number of Children Ready for Kindergarten
E. Increasing the number of Children Reading at Grade Level

...and then the report proposes concrete strategies to improve the quality of life and educational opportunities for kids in those key areas.

In certain important ways, the report is very timely.  Gov. Rell has just proposed a "Deficit Mitigation Plan" that proposes cuts to a number of important services that benefit the people of the state.  Some of those cuts would reduce exactly the things that this report shows need to be improved.

For example, the report cites how important it is to have state funded programs to reach out to expectant parents and link them with key services to ensure that they have healthy babies.  But Gov. Rell's newest budget proposal would cut funding for the Children's Trust Fund, which supports exactly those services in New Britain.  Gov. Rell's budget proposal would also cut funding for child day care and teen pregnancy prevention, two other things the report says need better state support in New Britain.

So this report shows why Gov. Rell's budget plans are unfair for the people of New Britain.  Clearly, we need a better plan than this so that the state budget is balanced, not just in dollars and cents, but balanced in the values we should uphold.

The report takes things a step further by clearly laying-out the reasons for some of the key things I have been fighting for at the state Capitol, for example,

• Education funding.  I have been pressing for significant increases in state funding for our local schools - and I and the other New Britain legislators have won millions of dollars of increased education aid for New Britain.   But, there is much more that needs to be done.  For example, the report points out that kindergarten classrooms should have education paraprofessional - something held up by budget constraints. As I have been pointing out at the State Capitol, Gov. Rell's own education funding task force recommended that New Britain should receive an increase of $30 million a year in education aid (and similar increases for other big cities) to provide an equitable education for New Britain's kids.  Another group, CCJEF, produced a study that says that the increase for New Britain should actually be $88 million a year.  That is why, while we have won millions of dollars of increased state aid for our local schools, I continue to fight hard for more.
  
• More pre-school classrooms.  I am proud that we won, in the State Legislature, significant increases in the number of early childhood education classrooms for New Britain kids in the past few years.  But, as the report points out, there are more than three hundred children who still need access to pre-school classrooms.  Completing this work is a high priority for me.
  
• Pre-School teacher pay.  Increasing the number of early childhood classrooms in New Britain was a real achievement.  But today's blue-print report shows that a major obstacle for young children is the need for their pre-school teachers to be better trained.  The problem is that pre-school (day care) staff are generally so poorly paid that, to provide for their own families, they tend to quickly leave for better paying jobs.  This leaves little time for professional development to turn them into highly skilled pre-school teachers.  The solution is simple, but expensive - pre-school teachers need to be paid better - much better.  As helpful as Gov. Rell's administration has been in expanding early childhood education classrooms, she has not really addressed the pre-school teacher pay issue - which is nearly as critical as expanding pre-school classroom spaces.
  

Of course, the issue with all of these is finding money for them in the State Budget.  That is where the priorities of the person who holds the office of Governor need to change.

For being one of the wealthiest states, Connecticut has some of the most intense inequality in the nation and has one of the more frugal state governments (as a UConn study has shown).  The result of this is that there is little funding available as I and other legislators advocate for education and other services, like those the blue-print report calls for, and well as for reforms to lower unfair property taxes and similar inequalities.

As a legislator representing a district that includes middle class and poorer people and families, it is frustrating to watch the combination of a Governor  and state legislators, who are from wealthy communities, blocking efforts to make the budget priorities of the state fairer for the middle class and poor.

One of the reasons the "Blueprint for Improving The Lives of New Britain’s Young Children Birth Through 3rd Grade" is important and valuable is how clearly it lays out why certain funding priorities are important for the most important and vulnerable members of our community - the youngest.

Making the goals of this report a reality will take a lot of hard work.  I plan to use the good work that went into this report to continue my efforts to build a stronger community.

New Britain High School class visit to the Capitol.

This week, I was honored to be able to greet New Britain High School students, teacher Basia Maselek's 9th grade American Government class, at the State Capitol.  They were on a field trip, visiting the Capitol and the state Supreme Court on a field trip to see how government works.

I believe it is important to show young people how their government functions by being able to see it themselves.  That is why I try to speak with students who visit the Capitol on field trips whenever I can.

When I met Ms. Maselek's class, the legislature's Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee was meeting to debate legislation referred from the House and Senate floor, so I was able to bring the class into the committee meeting room to watch the committee's deliberations.  I hope that they enjoyed watching the legislature in action.

The photo here is outside the committee room, where I was able to speak with the class.  I let the class know some of how the decision-making at the Capitol works, and the students asked some very thoughtful questions.

Sen. Donald DeFronzo and Rep. Peter Tercyak also spoke with the class.

Rell budget freezes education and harms property tax relief.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell's budget freezes education funding for cities and towns and cuts PILOT property tax relief funding to New Britain by about $2 million.

A freeze in the Education Cost Sharing Grant funding is better than a cut, but I am deeply concerned that Gov. Rell's budget would result in higher property taxes and less local services - such as larger class sizes for kids in our local schools.

It is not a complete budget, either, leaving a state deficit of $2.7 billion over two years.  I do not know why it is that the Governor would submit a budget so far out of balance.

I will say that the Governor's job creation program, bringing back the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps is a good idea.  It is an idea that I have been talking about as a good way to help people in these tough times with what they want - jobs.

But the fact that it is so far out of balance and leaves many, many important needs unmet makes this budget proposal very problematic.  I had hoped for better and I am disappointed.

Education Funding Increases

I have advocated strongly for increased support for our local schools. Here are estimates of the increases in Educational Cost Sharing grant funding for the city and town I represent, New Britain and Newington, in just the past two years.

New Britain                      
year prior            First year                                               Second year
to 2-year             of 2-year                                                   of 2-year
state budget    state budget       INCREASE           state budget            TOTAL
FY 06-07             FY 07-08             first year                 FY 08-09             INCREASE
$64,079,306      $70,813,502         $6,734,196         $73,929,296        $9,849,990

Newington
year prior            First year                                              Second year
to 2-year             of 2-year                                                  of 2-year
state budget    state budget       INCREASE          state budget          TOTAL
FY 06-07             FY 07-08             first year               FY 08-09              INCREASE
$10,386,893        $12,100,397      $1,713,504         $12,632,814         $2,245,921

Of course, I have advocated for significantly larger support than even this, which is why I plan to continue my efforts to advocate for quality education for our kids.

Energy assistance and efficiency legislation.

As I meet the people I represent, many tell me about the difficulty that they have making ends meet because of the shock that is caused by the rise in energy costs. With winter coming, many people are really worried, and I have been advocating for action to help people.  I have been pleased that there is a broad bipartisan agreement between legislators and the Governor about the need for action. The legislature came into session this summer to approve energy assistance legislation.

In addition to the need to increase the amount of the assistance for people who are currently eligible for energy assistance (because fuel prices have increased), the rising costs of oil and other energy has created a problem for people whose incomes are over the current limits that needs to be addressed.  The legislature approved two items to items in order to address these issues.  The first, SB1101, does a few important things to help with this.  It provides:

• $4 million to assist people state residents 65 or older with incomes up to $48,787 for a single person or $63,789 for a couple. This home heating assistance includes deliverable fuel, electricity and natural gas.
• $8.5 million to Operation Fuel for assistance to households with incomes between $15,600 for a single person and up to $42,400 for a family of four. This home heating assistance also includes deliverable fuel, electricity and natural gas.
• $5 million to expand Operation Fuel’s assistance to households greater than 200% of the federal poverty level but equal to or less than 100% of the state median household income – this home heating assistance includes deliverable fuel, electricity and natural gas

SB1101 also:

• Helps our local schools by allocating $6.5 million for our local school districts to heat school buildings
• Lowers the minimum delivery from 150 gallons to 100 gallons
• Ensures that companies have the resources to honor prepaid contracts
  
  

The other legislation that was approved (SB1102) is meant to raise the amount of money available for people who are currently eligible for energy assistance by adding up to $35 million into an energy contingency account to:

• Provide emergency home heating assistance
  
• Supplement federal funding to the Connecticut Energy Assistance Program (CEAP)
  

And it does a number of important things to increase energy efficiency and save people money by allocating:

• $3 million added to the furnace or boiler replacement program
  
• $2 million to provide eligible state residents to repair or upgrade their existing boilers or furnaces to make them more efficient
  
• 0% loans through the Energy Conservation Loan Program to replace existing furnaces and boilers with more efficient ones
  
• $2 million to DECD for additional funding to their loan program for insulation, alternative energy devices, energy conservation materials and replacement furnaces and boilers
  
• $7 million to subsidize the cost of an energy audit to households that heat by means other than natural gas or electricity (currently the program is free to those households but cost $300 to all other households)
  
• $2 million to DSS to provide funding for weatherization programs to households in the CEAP program
  

And it also allocates:

• $3.5 million for heating assistance grants to non profit organizations that are human service or public health providers
  

I hope that this legislation goes a long way to help people this winter and increase our energy efficiency for the long run.

The local cost of the War in Iraq.

Sorry that I have not had time to write on the blog recently. I have been very busy at the Capitol. When I have a moment, I will write more details about what has been happening.

In the meantime, here is some notable information. There has been a lot of discussion about the monetary cost of the War in Iraq. The cost is so staggering - with at least one estimate of $3,000,000,000,000 - that the numbers are hard to conceive. However, thanks to the National Priorities Project, we can see some local estimate of the money cost of the War.

For example, here is what the War in Iraq is expected to cost New Britain in the 2009 budget year:

Taxpayers in New Britain, Connecticut will pay $54.4 million for projected Iraq War Spending for FY 2009. For the same amount of money, the following could have been provided:

17,985 People with Health Care OR

67,211 Homes with Renewable Electricity OR

1,074 Public Safety Officers OR

729 Music and Arts Teachers OR

6,510 Scholarships for University Students OR

2 New Elementary Schools OR

261 Affordable Housing Units OR

20,900 Children with Health Care OR

7,556 Head Start Places for Children OR

751 Elementary School Teachers OR

662 Port Container Inspectors

Or, this same amount of money could be used to cut property taxes in half.

Legislation for high school credit for the Polish Language School.

Today, the legislature's Education Committee, of which I am a member, held a hearing on House Bill 5820:

(Note: Only the underlined text is new. Everything else is existing law.)
AN ACT CONCERNING HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT FOR PRIVATE WORLD LANGUAGE COURSES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:

Section 1. Subsection (e) of section 10-221a of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2008):

(e) Only courses taken in grades nine through twelve, inclusive, shall satisfy this graduation requirement, except that a local or regional board of education may grant a student credit (1) toward meeting a specified course requirement upon the successful completion in grade seven or eight of any course, the primary focus of which corresponds directly to the subject matter of a specified course requirement in grades nine to twelve, inclusive; (2) toward meeting the high school graduation requirement upon completion of a world language course offered privately through a nonprofit provider, provided such student passes an examination prescribed by the Commissioner of Education and such credits shall not exceed two; or [(2)] (3) toward meeting the high school graduation requirement upon the successful completion of coursework at an institution accredited by the Department of Higher Education or regionally accredited. One three-credit semester course, or its equivalent, at such an institution shall equal one-half credit for purposes of this section.

This legislation was introduced by the Education Committee at my request, working with Sen. Don DeFronzo and Rep. Peter Tercyak. Its inspiration is the Polish Language School in New Britain. The legislation would allow students to get high school credit for their language studies in nonprofit educational programs, like the Polish Language School.
The Polish Language School in New Britain is 47 years old and has 680 students. Its programs are conducted on Saturday mornings at the Pulaski Middle School. It is a wonderful program that teaches students, not just the Polish language, but the history and culture of Poland. It enriches the lives of young people and enhances their educational experience.
Sen. DeFronzo and Rep. Tercyak, spoke in favor of the bill along with students of the school, parent Jolanta Bicki and the Principal of the School, Zygmunt Pietrzak.

Eliminating tuition as a barrier to college.

One of the bills I introduced this year was House Bill 5261 to eliminate tuition for in-state students at Connecticut's public colleges and universities, with a limited repayment system for students who stay in Connecticut.

I introduced this legislation because I think that it is time that Connecticut start talking about the fact that high tuition and fees at our public institutions of higher education is a growing barrier to a college education for many people in our state, even if good financial aid is available for students.

Equally important is the fact that strong action is needed to make it easier and preferable for young people to stay in our state. That is why my proposal would only require students who stay in the state to contribute back to the state an amount based on their income, and only for a fixed length of time.

I am glad that this proposal gotten so much attention. There was an article about it in the Meriden Record Journal, TV coverage of it on WVIT (Channel 30) and WFSB (Channel 3) and coverage on blogs, like Spazeboy. I have also been told by a lot of people, personally, that they like this idea.

This is a big idea, I know, which means that it will be hard to get done this year. But, hopefully, with the support this concept has already gotten, we will be able to build momentum for the approval of it, or something like it.

Video update with goals for the legislative session.

Here is a video update I recorded last December. For a number of reasons, I never got it uploaded until just now. But, if you will forgive the reference to the holiday season, most the discussion is still very relevant...

Opening day at the Capitol.

Today was opening day of the 2008 regular legislative session. Opening day at the Capitol is always a day for ceremony and speeches. Today was no exception.

It was also the day for the Governor to give her annual state of the state speech and present her proposed budget and other ideas to the legislature. Governor Rell is a kindly and reassuring speaker, certainly good qualities.

The substance of her proposals were not very strong, though. For example, it looks like her budget proposal would hold education aid for New Britain to $4.3 million* less than in the bold education and property tax relief plan she proposed just last year. (That is, her proposal for fiscal year 2008-09.) With New Britain homeowners facing a revaluation this year, that $4.3 million would have been very helpful to support education while keeping people's property taxes down.

Her plan would provide Newington with $1.3 million* less than her education proposal from last year. While Newington just went through a revaluation, that money would have been very important for the Town Council to support local schools while holding the line on property taxes.

By her budget speech, it looks like she has no intention of approving a budget that comes even close to her proposals from last year, so it looks like her decision will keep municipal aid levels lower than I would like them to be.

While I am proud of increasing municipal aid to keep property taxes down and support important local services, like education. But, while fighting for these practical things to help property tax payers, I have been pressing for real property tax reform, to finally address the unfairnesses of the property tax system that place such an unfairly high burden on so many people. That is why I wrote a comprehensive property tax reform plan, which for a while was the only comprehensive plan being considered at the Capitol.

Fortunately, the interest in taking action on property tax reform has been gaining at the Capitol. A good sign is that Gov. Rell - who once referred to the call for property tax reform as a "false cry" - is offering her own proposals. Her proposals are lacking, but it is a good sign that she is talking about this issue.

Specifically, rather than addressing the unfairness of how we fund local services, if you read between the lines her plan is reduce local services, and lower working people's incomes.

If Gov. Rell's "tax cap" idea sounds too good to be true, it is because it is. Almost everyone I talk with about is asks me if her plan is really to keep property tax increases down to 3% per year. People in New Britain are asking this because of the very real concern that the recent property tax revaluation will cause their property taxes to go up significantly.

But that is not what Gov. Rell's plan is. If her plan is the same as last year's, it would do nothing to keep homeowners from getting hit with a huge revaluation-driven property tax increase. I asked her budget director this in a public Finance Committee hearing, and that is exactly what he said. I told him that the Governor's idea missed the real impact on homeowners, since New Britain's mill rate has been dropping, due mostly to increasing state aid. The revaluation, I pointed out is the real time when homeowners get hit with property tax increases.

I asked him if the Governor would support a plan that would actually keep homeowners' property taxes from going up more than 3% per year, and he said she would not. I really think the Governor, in all honesty, should explain that her "tax cap" would not really protect homeowners from unfair property tax increases.

However, I thank the Governor for stepping up to the plate on an issue - property tax reform - that has long been close to my heart. I will take her at her word that she is interested in finding a compromise that will really address the problems with our unfair property tax system.

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*Correction February 8, 2008: When I first wrote this post, the numbers I cited were $8 million for New Britain and $3 million for Newington. Technically this is correct, comparing the Governor's budget proposals from this year and last, but municipal aid numbers sometimes leave the bottom line between different years and different proposal an apples-to-oranges comparison. That was the case, here. I realized that that the lower numbers, above, are fairer to the Governor, so I made these corrections. Sorry for the confusion. That said, the $4.3 million less for New Britain and the $1.3 million less for Newington are certainly significantly less than the Governor's proposal from last year, to which I wish she would hold her commitment.

Summer Youth Employment at the Capitol.

Today I was pleased to attend an event at the State Capitol honoring the kids who participated in this year's Summer Youth Employment program.

This is a program that I have been happy to support and of which I think our state should be proud.

The Summer Youth Employment program was a very successful federally funded program, providing, as the name implies, jobs for youth in the summertime. Unfortunately budget cuts completely eliminated this important program.

And the loss the program was felt severely, especially in cities like New Britain. So the state decided to recreate it - as a state program.

The current Summer Youth Employment program is a jobs program for youth with a strong educational emphasis. It provides kids with opportunity, work experience, a sense of responsibility and, of course, a paycheck.

Over the past few years I have been proud to support increases in the budget for this program. But there are still kids who want to participate who are turned away. So there are still many more kids who can be given greater opportunities if we can increase the funding for the Summer Youth Employment program.

Community Meeting at McCullough Temple

On Monday, the New Britain legislative delegation held a community meeting at the McCullough Temple, which is located on the East Side of New Britain on Chapman Street. McCullough Pastor, Rev. Thomas Mills and Sen. DeFronzo organized the forum. In addition to Sen. DeFronzo and me, Rep. Geragosian and Rep. Tercyak were also there.

The meeting was an opportunity for the legislators to talk about issues coming up at the Capitol in the coming year, and to talk about the funding that we have succeeded in making available to fund local services and education and keep property taxes down.

More important, the forum was a chance for people to come out and discuss what they feel should be addressed. We heard concerns about creating good paying jobs, supporting education, addressing the mortgage crisis and ending abusive lending practices. I really appreciated hearing people's concerns - especially since these are issues I feel need to be addressed, too.

I thank the McCullough Temple congregation for hosting our community meeting, and I compliment McCullough on the active role it is taking, working proactively to build a stronger community.

A new playground at Lincoln School.

This morning, I was able to pitch-in a little at the installation of the new playground at the Lincoln Elementary School in New Britain. It is a really nifty playground, and I am sure the kids are going to really like it when it is done.

It has several rock-climbing elements, which I found interesting. Years ago, when I was in better shape, I did rock climbing, myself.

I helped place some things (best I can describe them) into the ground. They are twisted-shaped standing objects that kids will be able to climb on. My role, really, was helping to lift one of them, place them into the hole in the ground, and hold it while the concrete in the hole set. Then I helped a little with putting up one of the new basketball hoops.

I was just there for a little while. There were others that had been there for a while. It was really great to see so many people from the community volunteering their time for this mini construction project. It imagined that this must have been like, in ages past, when a whole town would turn out to put up a barn or a town schoolhouse.

For me, it was a good break from the intense local politics going on. I got into public service because I want to make a difference, and I believe very much in being honest with the people I represent about what is going on in politics and government. It saddens me very much to see any elected officials placing political spin and insider gain over the truth and honesty. It is too bad that New Britain's Republicans have mired themselves in that kind of politics.

I like being able talk to non-political people and participate in event like today's community construction work. It is a refreshing break, and reminds me what I believe so strongly - that people are basically good, and they are glad to work together to make things better for everyone.

All Day Kindergarten in New Britain schools.

I am a participant in the local education blog in New Britain, "Supporting New Britain Schools," and I write on that blog from time to time.

I just wrote a post on Supporting New Britain Schools about the recent article in the New Britain Herald on the all day kindergarten program in New Britain. Here are some of the comments I made there:

It is a good thing that an all day kindergarten program has been implemented in New Britain. Getting this done is one of the reasons I have been working for increased education funding from the state. Of course, while we were able to win a very large increase in state education funding this year, this article points show that the even larger amounts I have been pressing for are truly needed.

There are some very real and tangible ways we know that we can increase kids' chances in life, like all day kindergarten. But the property tax system already imposes an unfair burden on New Britain taxpayers. So we are caught between denying kids what they need, on the one hand, and unfair, high property taxes on the other.

And these are the reasons why I feel so strongly that that it is high time that all state policy-makers step up to the plate and do the right thing for all of Connecticut's kids.

2007 Legislative Report to Citizens of New Britain

Sorry it has been so long since my last post. I have been working to catch-up with things outside of the legislature after the hectic days of the session - like my family.

There are still some loose ends the need to be completed, like the state bond act, but most of what will be approved this year is done.

Now, we are in the time between regular legislative sessions when we can start to build for the next session, which starts in February. I will go more into what issues I plan to work on in the future, but ensuring quality and affordable health care for everyone and property tax reform are certainly high priorities.

Anyway, I wanted to share a press release that was sent out yesterday on many of the accomplishments this year for New Britain...

City Delegation’s 2007 Legislative Report to Citizens of New Britain

The 2007 session of the General Assembly nears its conclusion with action on a two-year budget and many significant pieces of new legislation. Over the last few years, the New Britain legislative delegation has positioned itself on key committees to better secure state assistance for the people of New Britain, Berlin, Plainville, Newington, Bristol and Farmington, all communities we represent.

“I’m proud of the efforts of our delegation to secure significant state revenue increases for our two hospitals and five nursing homes, some of which are our largest employers and tax payers said Senator Donald DeFronzo. “In addition, state aid to the city equates to approximately 4 mills, which will go a long way to help the administration stabilize and reduce local property taxes.”

“There are many ways, big and small, that we were able to help New Britain—grants enabling the city to lower property taxes, support for education, health care, job training, local arts groups and more,” said Representative Tim O’Brien. “The New Britain delegation worked hard this year, and we are ready for more important work to come.”

“We worked hard to help our city and its agencies do the good work that they do,” said Representative John Geragosian. “Unfortunately the Democratic budget did not pass, which would have gone a long way toward tax relief. But the budget we did pass will be good for the city.”

“While so many of the total system changes that were initially introduced were not able to be made this year,” Representative Peter Tercyak said. “It made it extra important to help New Britain in one area after another. I’m very pleased with what we were able to bring home this year. This will make a vitally needed difference, especially for medical care, in New Britain.”

Among the actions approved in the biennial budget that will have a positive and significant effect on the City of New Britain are:

• A $6.5 million increase (the equivalent of 3.2 mils) in ECS educational funding.

• Restoration of approximately $1 million in state grants to New Britain to help limit property tax increases (the equivalent of one half mill).

• A 20 percent increase in hospital Medicaid reimbursements in 2007–2008 and another 10 percent increase in 2008–2009 budget year. This will allow the Hospital of Central Connecticut to stabilize operations, maintain and increase employment, and preserve and enhance the quality of patient care.

• An across- the-board 3 percent increase in Medicaid reimbursement to New Britain nursing homes including Monsignor Bojinowski Manor, Jerome Home, Walnut Hill, Brittany Farms and the Andrew House. These funds will allow these facilities to maintain a high level of patient care.

• A 4 percent across-the-board increase in Medicaid reimbursement to the Hospital for Special Care, providing for a sustained level of operations and quality patient care.

• $1 million in rate relief for emergency medical services providers in the state with high Medicaid caseloads, which includes New Britain Emergency Medical services.

• Important increases in preschool education programs, summer youth employment and after-school programs.

• Expansion of the HUSKY Health Care plan to include more working families, more pregnant women and improved dental services.

• A 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment for nonprofit provider agencies, such as daycare providers, CCARC, CMHA and many other agencies.

• $42 million more in higher education aid over the previous biennium for students who attend public and private in-state colleges.

• $5 million to secure and expand Dial-A-Ride Service for New Britain and area seniors.

• Special legislation to preserve the operation of the Boys and Girls Club summer drop-in recreation program.

• Legislative action to protect Guida’s Dairy from unfair taxation.

• $10 million to CCSU for repairs, alterations and additions to athletic fields and associated support facilities.

• Restoration of nearly $300,000 in Priority School District funding proposed for reduction by Governor M. Jodi Rell.

• Full funding of the access cost of special education when those costs are in excess of 4.5 times local per-pupil expenditure. This will result in an approximate 33 percent increase in funding in this category ($67 million to $125 million).

• A new state grant to offset half the cost of initial Fire Fighter Certification programs.

• A $100,000 grant to the New Britain Arts Alliance.

• A new $4 million competitive grant program in the Office of Culture, Tourism and Arts.

NAACP event honors hopes in a new generation.

Parking was tight yesterday morning at the Bethesda Apostolic Church in New Britain, where my wife, stepson and I attended a breakfast for the New Britain Branch of the NAACP. And, as we came into the basement hall, the event organizers were busy bringing out chairs for the overflow crowd.

More than a hundred people, by my estimate, packed the hall to honor graduating high school seniors. It was a wonderful event, and everyone was excited by the large turnout.

But, what really made the event was hearing the graduates, one by one, tell the audience about their plans for the future. They told us what colleges they are going to - like Tunxis Community College, Temple University, CCSU and the Naval Academy. And they told us what they wanted to do in life - doctor, social worker, teacher.

Parents and community were all so very proud of the young people's accomplishments - and their abilities and ambitions.

When I was asked to speak I decided to say to the graduates what I felt was the optimistic spirit in the room. Someone else had said that the young people's successes and opportunities were built on the work and sacrifices of others who came before them. I expanded on this, pointing out the great hopes that family, friends and community place in the new grads, and how we all want them all to succeed.

We all want young people to have a bright future. For parents, most of all, it is an expression of their caring for their children that they want so much for them to have happy, healthy and successful lives.

But, the great possibilities that exist for young adults are also opportunities for us all. Whether as families, as communities, as a state, a nation or the world, the possibilities, as individuals, of young adults are the possibilities for a better world. Nothing goes so far to build a better world than to empower the next generation.

And so, what I hoped I had conveyed to the graduates was how much so many people had invested in their success, how much our future depends on them succeeding and how much everyone wants them to fulfill their full potential.

It was a happy and hopeful event. I was very glad to have been there.

Thanks, graduates. And good luck!