Cafero: Taxpayers on the Hook after State Rejected for Federal School Funds

House Republican Lawrence F. Cafero, Jr. reacted to news today that the State of Connecticut did not make the cut in the competition with other states for $175 million in federal “Race to the Top” school funding. 

The anticipation of the funding was a centerpiece of SB 438, An Act Concerning Education Reform in Connecticut.  Without that funding state taxpayers will now be expected to foot the cost of implementing that legislation.

The bill created a number of mandates on municipal school districts.  Among them is the requirement that all districts increase graduation credit requirements by 25%.   During floor debate on May 4^th, Cafero warned that if the measure failed to qualify Connecticut for the “Race to the Top” funding, Connecticut taxpayers would be footing the bill for a massive and pricey expansion of public school bureaucracy.  Today, Cafero said his prediction has come true.

“The attitude in the legislature has been that there’s no need to worry because someone else is going to pay for this,” said Cafero.  “We all watch our local school systems and boards of education scrape for every dollar they can to educate our kids.  Now, thanks to this irresponsible outlook, there is a $34- $41 million tab that will have to be paid either by our municipalities or state taxpayers. Either way, we all take the hit.  This is the kind of thinking that has gotten us into the financial mess we are in now.”

Cafero also noted that U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan had indicated that successful applications for “Race to the Top” would include significant institutional changes, not simple tweaks.  Among those enumerated were changes to the collective bargaining process, something that legislative Democrats refused to put in the bill.  “Today’s results were pre-determined,” said Cafero.  “The fact that Democrats did not make the changes the Department of Education sought guaranteed failure.”

Republican concerns that the bill’s passage would result in the huge bill to taxpayers they are now due to get caused the bill to pass largely on a party-line vote of 106-38.

“We aren’t winning any ‘Race to the Top’ to improve state education, but we certainly are winning the race to spend more money that our taxpayers don’t have,” he added.