We need the public to support a dramatic change in the underlying Education Cost Sharing formula.
If you examine the total ECS aid Norwalk received from 2002 to 2008, our percentage (of the total ECS grants awarded) decreased! You can see this for yourselves at the State Department of Education website:
http://www.sde.ct.gov/sde/lib/sde/PDF/dgm/report1/ECSEntit.pdf
The formula, which is periodically tweaked by the General Assembly, treats Norwalk unfairly for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it places a disproportionate emphasis on certain "town wealth" factors, while ignoring the true need of our students. How else can you explain that smaller towns, and towns that are not considered "Priority School" districts, receive more ECS funding than we do?
The injustice was compounded this past summer when the ECS formula was used to distribute federal education jobs money (and was yet another example of how Meriden, with about 1/3 fewer residents, garnered about 5 times more money than did Norwalk).
The inequities are fairly obvious when you look at Norwalk’s ranking among all cities and towns in Connecticut—we rank around 42nd for total ECS aid, but are the 6th largest city in the state. Smaller towns which are not Priority School districts receive more aid.
Maybe, with the impetus of the Common Council resolution and enough of us writing to them, we can work with our entire legislative delegation to not just sponsor, but actively advocate, for the changes to the ECS formula our students-- and our taxpayers-- deserve.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
The E.C.S. data has been around awhile. Unfotunately there has been no movement on this vital issue.
ReplyDeleteMalloy knows the deal and has stated he will address this issue. Yes it is absolutely fantastic to see Norwalk out front on this issue. It is a just and very rightious cause and long overdue to be updated and restructured.
Can we publish the current formula here? It would be helpful if we can all be better informed on what we advocate for and what suggestions we can send to Hartford.