State Senator Michael McLachlan (R-24)
today called into question majority Democrats’
decision to place a 1-year moratorium on school construction
projects that have already been approved by the state.
The FY10-11 budget that was passed by the legislature
early Tuesday morning contained $7.8 million in savings
taken directly from important school construction projects.
While majority Democrats would not make cuts to special
projects and insisted they had cut every dollar possible,
Governor Rell managed to find $8 million in pork barrel
spending which she has vetoed.
“The Democrats couldn’t meet the Governor
half-way and come up with some real cuts in spending,”
said Sen. McLachlan. “Instead
they decided to put a stop to important projects that
are vital to many of our local school districts. In
Danbury, we now have an empty building on our hands
that was supposed to be up and running as a Head Start
facility by next year. Unfortunately, kids from low-income
families will now have to wait at least two years before
they are able to enter a nationally recognized and overwhelming
successful school readiness program. On the surface,
a 1-year moratorium on school construction seems like
a sensible place to find savings, but in reality, it
brings to light the majority party’s skewed priorities.
It shows that they are willing to trade the best interest
of our kids for their special interests.”
“On top of the postponement of the Head Start
project, Danbury’s newly completed Ellsworth Avenue
Elementary School has been told their project funding
will have to wait. Unfortunately, the work has already
been done. Are they now going to have to go without
their promised state reimbursement for at least the
next year? Instead of cutting back on pet projects,
the Democrats made a choice to cut something as critical
as school construction,” said Sen. McLachlan.
Rep. Janice Giegler (R-138) added,
"The fact that the Democrats found plenty of money
to preserve pet projects and programs that provide aid
to very few people, yet cancelled school construction
funding that serves scores of Connecticut children,
is unconscionable. It shows just how misplaced their
priorities were in crafting a budget this year. First,
they decided to sacrifice jobs in favor of a tax increase.
Now, they've cut funding for school construction in
favor of marinating gross levels of unproductive spending
on state employees and unproductive programs. Had the
Democrats joined House and Senate Republicans in making
real cuts to government largesse, worthy programs like
schools construction could be preserved now and in the
future."
According to a November 2008 memo (attached) from the
Office of Fiscal Analysis (OFA), placing a moratorium
on school construction grants from July 1st, 2009 to
June 30th, 2010 would decrease the cost of debt service
by $7.8 million. The savings are also listed as a line-item
on a spreadsheet Democrats released to their members
prior to the budget vote (attached). The moratorium
means that towns cannot expect any state matching funds
for school construction projects scheduled to take place
through June 30th 2010. The projects set to receive
matching funds were listed in SB 1111: An
Act Concerning Authorization of State Grant Commitments
for School Building Projects and Concerning Changes
to the Statutes Concerning School Building Projects
(attached) which allocates hundreds of millions of dollars
in school construction projects. SB 1111 was never called
for a vote in the 2009 session.
| 
