Norwalk Hour: Officials say Malloy’s budget leaves Norwalk schools inadequately funded

On the surface, it seemed Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s budget plan was a big win for Norwalk Public Schools.

But cuts to some funding sources and a huge change in the way teacher retirement plans are funded has district officials concerned that Norwalk’s financial future isn’t as rosy as it first seemed.

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Katie Roy, director and founder of the Connecticut School Finance Project, a New Haven-based nonprofit that tracks Connecticut public education spending, said she had hoped for a more comprehensive review of the ECS formula.

“They’ve tweaked the ECS formula rather than looking at the school finance system comprehensively,” Roy said. “Getting to a logical, unified, non-arbitrary funding system for all of the public schools that we have in our state is going to require a comprehensive look at the school finance system.”

In addition to lower net funding than originally anticipated, Malloy’s budget would shift the cost burden for teacher pensions to municipalities and, by association, school districts.

The state currently pays 100 percent of the employer share of teacher pensions, but under the new proposal, municipalities would contribute one third of the employer share costs. In Norwalk, this would cost the city and the district about $9 million, ultimately resulting in a net loss of more than $5 million, according to an analysis by the Connecticut School Finance Project.

Read the full article at http://www.thehour.com/news/article/Officials-say-Malloy-s-budget-leaves-Norwalk-10925838.php