Democrats Want to Restore Almost All School Funds Governor Cut

Democrats in the Connecticut House of Representatives want to restore almost all of the funds to school systems that Gov. Dannel Malloy announced last week would be cut in the absence of a state budget. 

NBC Connecticut obtained the proposed breakdown of Education Cost Sharing grants, also known as ECS. 

Gov. Malloy had proposed eliminating all funds from 85 school systems around Connecticut, leaving them without any form of state aid, and significantly reducing funds to another 54 districts. The rest are known as Alliance Districts that historically have underperformed relative to state standards and they were left untouched by the cuts. 

The House Democrats' ECS funding proposal would restore $404 million in funds to school systems in the first year of the two year budget cycle. 

Connecticut has been operating without a budget since the fiscal year ended on June 30. Since that time, Gov. Malloy has been running the state by executive order. 

The proposed restoration of funds to the 85 school systems comes as a relief to the districts. The governor's proposal caught many of them by surprise because they never anticipated the governor would make such a move. 

Malloy defended the cuts by saying those school systems were in cities and towns in solid fiscal condition and they could absorb any reductions. 

House Democrats also said Tuesday they would release a full budget on Wednesday.

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