State Sen. David J. Cappiello, R-Danbury, along with State Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, today are announcing that the legislature has approved nearly $30 million in state grant commitments for school construction projects for the city of Danbury. According to the legislators, the funding has been authorized for the following five schools: Rogers Park Middle School, Broadview Middle School, Danbury High School, the Academy for International Studies, and for the construction of Head Start education facility.

“One of our most important responsibilities as a legislature is to make sure that our schools are in good physical condition,” said Sen. Cappiello who serves as Ranking Member of the legislature’s Appropriations Committee. “Our schools need continuous upkeep and that in itself can be a very large undertaking in many instances. These grants certainly give the city of Danbury more flexibility in covering the costs of these important projects. I am very pleased that we were able to pass these authorizations during the Special Session and I give credit all the members of the Danbury legislative delegation for their hard work in making this possible. This is extremely good news for the residents of Danbury.”

"I am very happy we were able to bring this money back home. This amounts to substantial state aid toward the education of Danbury's kids,” said Rep Godfrey. “The impact of these funds goes beyond the obvious. Relocating Headstart classrooms to a new and convenient location, necessarily frees up space in our public schools for full time kindergarten."

According to the legislators, the authorizations were part of the school construction bill that was one of a series of bills that were passed yesterday in Special Session to complete this year’s legislative budget process. The following are the school construction authorizations passed yesterday for Danbury:

• Rogers Park Middle School -$3,920,928
• Broadview Middle School - $4,110,060
• Danbury High School - $312,840
• Academy for International Studies - $17,500,000
• Head Start education facility (construction costs) - -$3,200,000