Maher, Constantine report on General Assembly at library
Sen. Ceci Maher, 26th District, and Rep. Savet Constantine, 42nd District, reported on the recently concluded General Assembly session at the New Canaan Library, pointing to $4 million in funds flowing to the area, along with a focus on paying down the state’s pension debt by $10 billion, providing $80 million in educational cost sharing funds and supporting early childhood education.
At the same time, the state is projected to have a surplus this year amounting to around $462 million, they said.
As could be expected, Republicans Rep. Tom O’Dea, 125th District, and Sen. Ryan Fazio, 36thDistrict, members of the minority in the legislature, found areas to criticize, notably the budget’s going past fiscal guardrails, essentially spending caps, that were initially imposed in 2017. But Maher and Constantine defended the budget, pointing to the need to fund early childhood education and its economic benefits.
Maher described the early childhood educational fund as “one of the biggest issues we have in our state.” The early childhood system in Connecticut is, she said, pretty much broken. “Parents can’t go back to work if they can’t afford childcare,” she said, pointing to a blue ribbon commission report on the concern. Even if they can afford it, if they can’t find a qualified place for their child to go, so the legislature provided $200 million in an off budget Early Childhood Endowment Fund, the first in the nation. In five years, the fund will make it possible for Connecticut to have 16,000 more childhood care spots available for birth to five-years.
Because of the way children develop, children benefitting from having early childhood education are able “to hit the ground running” when they start school, Maher said, and if there are any developmental issues, they will have been identified early on.
Constantine, in her first term, pointed to being able to provide some relief on consumer energy bills by saving $780 million over three years, by reducing the public benefits charge, reforming the charges for purchased power and modernizing the electric grid.
She defined the budget as a “great balanced budget” that provided funds for child care, special education, support for non-profits which provide numerous services to residents, including mental health, all while reducing pension debt by $1 billion.
Some specifics are below:
A $250 tax refund for tens of thousands of workers with children through an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit program, which will benefit as many as 195,000 children
Projected state surpluses and continued investment in the state's Rainy-Day Fund
A total of $2.4 billion in Education Cost Sharing grant investment, with $186 million of new investments for the two-year period; this includes "holding harmless" 81 towns that would have seen a decrease in ECS funding
$80 million in additional special education cost savings and $75 million in additional new special education funding for a total of $442 million in special education excess cost spending
Investing $76 million in nonprofits in the second year of the budget to support worker wages
Tax credits supporting refundable personal income tax credits for home daycare owners and farm investments
Fully funding Medicaid, with more than $400million in increased funding to support the program 900,000 Connecticut residents rely on
Investing $7 million in Connecticut Foodshare, helping feed hungry Connecticut families
Investing $3 million in heating assistance as federal programs may see funding reductions