The Senate took a major step early Thursday toward ending Connecticut’s nearly 17-week budget impasse, overwhelmingly adopting a $41.3 billion, two-year plan that closes huge deficits without raising income or sales tax rates, imposes modest cuts on local aid, and provides emergency assistance to keep Hartford out of bankruptcy.
Early Childhood Education
Posted inEconomic Development, Education, Health, Money, Politics
Last night, the budget politics — today, the details
Legislators arrived at the State Capitol on Friday with the opportunity for the first time to see the details of a $41.4 billion, two-year budget proposal that the administration of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Democratic legislative leaders hoped would end Connecticut’s summer-long budget impasse.
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Care4Kids enrollment down 7,500 since closing to new families
Care4Kids, which once helped low-income parents of more than 22,000 children pay for day care so they could work, has reduced its enrollment by one-third, a year after closing to virtually all new applicants.
Posted inEducation, Money
State to continue funding pre-K expansion despite lack of budget
With no state budget in place for the current fiscal year – and the school year quickly approaching – uncertainty had surrounded whether the state would provide the money it promised district leaders when they expanded or opened new preschool classrooms over the last two school years.
Posted inEducation, Money, Politics
House panel cuts education budget, but not nearly as much as Trump
WASHINGTON — House appropriators rejected many of President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to education, but trimmed some programs and eliminated others – including one that provides the state and local school districts with $25 million in teacher training grants each year. House appropriators also failed to adjust this year’s Pell grant awards for inflation, a move state officials say will cost Connecticut students $6 million in college financial aid next year.
Posted inEducation, Money
Malloy would cut town aid, early childhood education to patch budget hole
The governor, who sent his adjustments to legislative leaders Thursday, also would reduce state contributions to a supplemental retirement health care program for teachers, potentially boosting costs for future retirees.
Posted inEducation
Pre-K boosts future incomes, reduces risk of jail, when schools spend more
It’s an issue that has long puzzled policymakers: Why do some early childhood programs produce big benefits for students, but others don’t? The answer may be linked to what happens after kids leave the programs altogether and move through school.
Posted inEducation
Obama official to run state’s Office of Early Childhood
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy tapped a former Obama administration official Thursday as commissioner of the Office of Early Childhood, naming David Wilkinson to oversee a relatively new state agency that has been squeezed by shifting federal priorities and Connecticut’s chronic budget pressures.
Posted inEducation
Growing wait list for child care subsidies taking its toll
Thousands of low-income families hoping to receive child care subsidies are stuck in limbo as a wait list for the program swells. The number could grow to 5,000 families by this summer, advocates say.
Posted inEducation
DeVos, reportedly opposed to rolling back transgender protections, defends the changes
If Education Secretary Betsy DeVos opposed rolling back protections for transgender students behind the scenes, she wasn’t letting it show last week when she spoke to many of the country’s staunchest conservatives.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Worried Betsy DeVos could ‘destroy’ public education? Here’s what you should know
Betsy DeVos earned more opposition than any of President Trump’s cabinet picks — and any nominee for education secretary in history. Now that DeVos has been confirmed, here’s what you should read to start getting a handle on the possibilities.
Posted inEducation, Politics
DeVos’ code words for creationism offshoot raise concerns about ‘junk science’
Betsy DeVos, President Trump’s pick for education secretary, says she supports science teaching that “allows students to exercise critical thinking.” This seemingly innocuous statement has raised alarms among science education advocates, and buoyed the hopes of conservative Christian groups that, if confirmed, DeVos may use the U.S. Department of Education to undermine the teaching of evolution in public schools.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Murphy presses DeVos on guns in schools
WASHINGTON – Sen. Chris Murphy asked Betsy DeVos, President- elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the U.S. Department of Education, if she believed guns belonged in or around schools. “I believe that’s best left to the locales and states,” she answered.
Posted inEducation
Troubled schools on trial: Who’s in charge? State vs. local control
Introducing bold reforms or enforcing standards to aid struggling students in poor districts have largely stalled at the state Capitol or the State Department of Education amid conflict over policy, local control or whether resources are adequate. Fourth of seven stories.
Posted inEducation
Child care subsidies limited to existing recipients or those on welfare
A program that subsidizes child care so low-income parents can work or teen parents can finish high school will soon stop enrolling new children unless their families are receiving welfare benefits.