“I don’t have any money to bail them out,” said Benjamin Barnes, the secretary of the governor’s Office of Policy and Management.
Early Childhood Education
Posted inEducation, Health, Money
State agencies offer more painful possibilities for budget cuts
State agencies have offered the governor’s budget office options as it prepares a 2017-18 state budget proposal. Among those just made public: Some DMV offices could close. Housing subsidies for those with AIDS could be cut. And hundreds more state jobs could be eliminated by privatizing services for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities.
Posted inEducation
For dyslexia, politics takes the day off in Hartford
The softer side of Connecticut politics was on display Monday in Hartford as Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, called Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano, R-North Haven, an ally and friend, and Fasano praised Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy as a role model. Their common ground was bipartisan efforts to address learning dyslexia.
Posted inEducation
Average cost of child care in CT as much as in-state tuition
WASHINGTON — Child care in Connecticut is of good quality and widely available, but it can easily cost more than in-state college tuition. A report released this week by Washington, D.C., think tank New America, determined the average cost of in-home, or “nanny care” in Connecticut was $31,162 a year and the average cost of a day care center was $11,456 per child per year.
Posted inEducation, Money
Ruling may end ‘hold harmless’ principle in CT budget politics
Hartford Superior Court Judge Thomas G. Moukawsher’s ruling Wednesday may lead to a major redistribution of state education aid.
Posted inEducation
Text of Judge Moukawsher’s ruling
Here is the entire text of Superior Court Judge Thomas Moukawsher’s ruling on the landmark school funding case.
Posted inEducation, Politics
Early Childhood Commissioner Myra Jones-Taylor to step down
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy announced Friday that Myra Jones-Taylor, commissioner of the state Office of Early Childhood, will step down from her position effective Sept. 1. She is leaving to pursue “new professional opportunities,” the governor’s office said.
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Justice, Money, Politics
26 CT agencies say no more layoffs — for now
The leaders of 26 Executive Branch agencies have informed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget office of significant cuts they will be making to meet major savings targets in the new state budget. They also have said that no state employees need to be laid off beyond those already announced.
Posted inEducation, Politics
State official says federal policy changes cut 6,100 from subsidized day care
WASHINGTON — The move to improve a child care subsidy program that helps low-and-moderate income families has also made it more expensive and forced Connecticut to cut 6,100 children from the rolls, a state official told a Senate panel Wednesday.
Posted inEducation, Money
State says thousands of children to lose day care subsidies
Updated at 1:50 p.m. Thursday
Thousands of children from low-income families will soon lose the state subsidy that helps them pay for daycare or preschool so their parents can work, the state Office of Early Childcare estimated Wednesday.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics, Transportation
House sends lean, overdue CT budget to Malloy’s desk
Updated at 11:08 p.m.
The Democrat-controlled House voted 74-70 to adopt a $19.76 billion budget that closes a nearly $1 billion hole in the 2016-17 fiscal year without raising taxes or tapping Connecticut’s modest emergency reserve. Eight Democrats joined with all 62 Republicans present to oppose the measure.
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Justice, Money, Politics, Transportation
Measure strips $1B in bonded projects off of CT’s credit card
The Senate voted late Thursday rebalance Connecticut’s credit card in the face of shrinking tax revenues, canceling or delaying about $1 billion in financing for a wide array of projects and programs, and to authorize $380 for municipal school construction, down significantly from recent years.
Posted inEducation, Energy & Environment, Health, Justice, Money, Politics, Transportation
CT’s maxed-out credit card takes its toll on many projects
The General Assembly is expected to vote before it adjourns May 4 on a plan that would cancel more than $1.1 billion in financing earmarked for an enormous array of purposes in both the public and private sectors, including renovating the leaking, flaking dome of UConn’s Gampel Pavilion.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics, Transportation
Budget plan offers painful cuts but remains out of balance
Updated at 5:18 p.m.
The legislature’s Appropriations Committee adopted a new $19.9 billion budget plan Wednesday, that Democratic leaders insisted restores fairness to a fiscal system that has cut too heavily from social services, health care and education – even though the overall plan is out of balance. Republicans pronounced it a failure.
Posted inEducation, Health, Money, Politics
Malloy orders more cuts as lawmakers vow to close deficit by April 1
While legislators committed Wednesday to close a $220 million hole in state finances by March 31, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy ordered $79 million in emergency cuts, two-thirds of which hit social service agencies and education.