Republican Russell’s Education Claim Called Untrue

A campaign attack by Republican candidate Alden Russell against Democratic candidate Manny Sanchez on school funding is being called untrue.

While Russell’s campaign attack says that Democrats have “cut education,” Sanchez and other Democrats have supported increases in funding to New Britain schools against Republican opposition.

“Funny how people want some respect when they are liars,” said Ald. Iris Sanchez (D-3) online. “Mr. Alden Russell, you like to go around defaming people and I understand that’s your only game out here.”

Russell is the Republican Party candidate for the Twenty Fourth Assembly District, an open seat election in which the Democratic City Council leader, Ald. Manny Sanchez (D-AL) is the Democratic candidate.

A photo of literature from Russell’s campaign seen on the internet says that, “Underfunded education hurts our schools and cuts our community to the core,” going on to claim, “Why send another Democrat to Hartford to cut education.”

The Russell campaign flyer pointedly attacks Sanchez, calling him “wrong on education,” and claiming that Democrats have “increased mandates without funding.”

But Democrats representing New Britain in the state legislature have voted to increase funding for New Britain schools. The current two year state budget increases state Educational Cost Sharing Grant funding for New Britain schools by $8,146,298, according to the nonpartisan legislative Office of Fiscal Analysis.

Democratic State Representative Rick Lopes (D-24), Democratic State Representative Bobby Sanchez (D-25) and Democratic State Representative Peter Tercyak (D-26) voted to approve that budget. Sanchez is chair the legislature’s Education Committee.

But Republican State Senator Gennaro Bizzarro (R-6) and Republican State Representative William Petit (R-22) voted against the budget with that $8,146,298 increase for New Britain schools.

Ald. Manny Sanchez has also voted to increase funding for New Britain schools. In 2018, Sanchez joined fellow Democratic Council members in approving a city budget that would have increased education funding over the budget proposed by Republican Mayor Erin Stewart.

Stewart later vetoed the budget plan approved by Sanchez and other Democrats, causing education funding to be lower and property taxes to be higher.

“You know who hasn’t given any more to our schools? New Britain Republicans,” said Ald. Chris Anderson (D-AL).

Stewart’s city budgets, including her plan in 2020, have been criticized for repeatedly freezing city funding for New Britain schools’ operating budgets. Stewart’s intermittent increases city school operating budgets have still left her local school funding increases averaging less than 0.7% per year.

That low local contribution to New Britain schools appears to correlate with low academic scores.

The New Britain Progressive reported in 2019 that, despite New Britain receiving, “the fifth highest state Education Cost Sharing grant funding of all of the cities and towns in the state,”

New Britain’s own local commitment to education, on the other hand, is among the lowest municipal school districts in the state. Only Bridgeport allocated less local funding per student than New Britain in the 2015-2016 state data.

While New Britain residents have less money than the state average to fund local services, the New Britain Progressive‘s 2019 report said that, even looking at a percent of the city’s ability to pay, the city of New Britain still appeared to allocate to its schools, “the second lowest among municipal school districts in the state.”

Hartford’s contribution was not in that data and may have been lower, still, which would have made New Britain third lowest.

The New Britain Progressive also reported, in 2019, that,

Comparing the amount of local support for education, using the 2015-2016 data, to the most recent academic test scores appears to show a general correlation between how much a city or town provides in local funding for their schools and the test scores of the students in their schools. The comparison appears to show New Britain’s place near the bottom of both local education funding and test scores as part of a larger pattern, with New Britain near the low end of the scale.

The Twenty-Fourth Assembly District, for which Sanchez and Russell are candidates, includes the West End, Willow Brook and southern East Side neighborhoods in New Britain and the south west corner of Newington.

The Twenty-Fourth Assembly District is an open seat election because Lopes, the current Representative, is running for State Senate against Bizzarro.