New Canaan Public Schools Supt. Bryan Luizzi moderated Saturday’s panel. Kathey Makowski of Naugatuck prepared for a day of discussions about property taxes. New Haven teachers union President Leslie Blatteau asked participants in Connecticut’s citizens’ assembly to visualize a “ficti onal Connecticut school,” with about 500 students who all graduate 8th grade together, “robust resources at the school, in the community, at home,” parents who “aren’t millionaires or billionaires,” but not “wanting for much.”  “Contrast that with the instability that we see in our urban and rural districts,” she said. “Only about 100 of our 1,700 teachers have been working in New Haven for 25 years.” The “churn” of both students and teachers through New Haven schools is “less than ideal for academic achievement,” and expensive for the city, she said. “There’s a tacit acceptance that kids whose parents’ homes are worth more deserve a better education,” Blatteau said.  Blatteau’s audience Saturday morning might just be the group that could overturn that. The citizens’ assembly has now met twice in July to learn about and deliberate over Connecticut’s property tax — by the end of their session in September, they will likely present policy recommendations to state lawmakers that will represent citizens’ priorities. The assembly is the first in Connecticut. Similar citizens’ groups have seen success in France, Ireland, and across the United States. All of the Connecticut Citizens’ Assembly members have been selected by lottery to participate in the democratic initiative that is designed to encourage non-politicians to engage in policy-making. A citizens’ assembly subgroup focused on education funding attended Saturday’s panel, featuring Blatteau, New Canaan Public Schools Supt. Bryan Luizzi, Norwalk Public Schools Chief Financial Officer Lunda Asmani, and Yale School of Medicine professor and Child Wellbeing and Education Research director Michael Strambler.  Before the panel, Erika Haynes, the director of community engagement at the School and State Finance Project, gave the assembly context about the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula and school funding in Connecticut. She explained that funding for education in Connecticut comes from three sources: about 8.1 percent from the federal government, 35.8 percent from the state, and 56.1 percent from local sources, or property taxes, according to data from the School and State Finance Project.  She showed a graphic comparing how much funding students in Meriden receive from their towns compared to students in Sharon, which by comparison is much wealthier: a Meriden student receives $5,670 in education funding from their town’s property tax funds, while a Sharon student receives $46,944. Towns like these across the state are “experiencing some historic disadvantages in terms of funding,” Haynes said.  Compounding these issues, she said, ECS has not been adjusted for inflation, she reminded the assembly. ECS “is supposed to make up the difference between what a community can afford to pay and the cost of educating the kids in that community.” It has only been fully funded for a year, but those costs have not been equitized yet, she said. “Equal opportunity across our districts requires unequal funding,” Luizzi said. “We have to really wrap our minds around that.”  Blatteau and other panelists discussed education inequalities, focusing on ECS as well as the costs of funding special education.  Asmani said that rising special education costs have become a challenge for Norwalk schools. While the student population there has “remained relatively flat,” he said, the rate of students with specialized needs has increased. Blatteau said the trend has been similar in New Haven Public Schools.  Linda West, a citizens’ assembly member, said after the panels that she is worried about reaching a “tipping point” with special education, after which many schools may not have the resources to support children with special needs. “There is plenty of money,” she said, if allocated well.  Blatteau said she believes “there’s a revenue path for us in Connecticut to make bold, brave changes on the cost share formula.” She concluded, “the system is broken and I think we could agree that it is unfair.” The post Blatteau Urges “Citizens’ Assembly” To Reconsider State Ed Funding appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less