Rep. Sanchez Leads Challenge to Stewart on Low Local School Funding

Rep. Bobby Sanchez (D-25) was joined by teachers and City Council and Board of Education members, gathered at Smalley School, to discuss the issue of low school funding by Republican Mayor Erin Stewart.

Saying that it is an issue of equity, Rep. Sanchez called for more local and state funding for New Britain schools.

Sanchez, who, along with other New Britain state legislators, is widely credited with bringing more education funding from the state, criticized Stewart for years of no additional local funding. He pointed to the city of New Britain’s annual funding for the city’s schools being near the lowest of all of the cities and towns in the state.

Stewart has come under intense criticism in New Britain for comments she made in her annual “state of the city” address, in which she doubled-down on her underfunding of the city’s schools.

Stewart bluntly said that her longstanding policy of low-funding to New Britain’s schools will continue in the city budget for the next year, saying, “what I will not do is blindly throw additional tax dollars into a massive bureaucracy that is failing our students.”

Board of Education member, Dr. Violet Jiménez Sims, and Board of Education President Merrill Gay, both Democrats, joined Rep. Sanchez in criticizing the years of low school funding from the city.

Jiménez Sims said that, “there absolutely is a correlation between the funding and the services that we can offer.”

Referring to Stewart’s comments, Gay said that it is a problem for the city’s leadership to abrogate their responsibility to fund education.

Sal Escobales, President of the New Britain local of the American Federation of teachers, called for dialogue and for funding to provide the education quality that city schools are trying to achieve.

City Council member, Ald. Chris Anderson (D-AL) discussed that Democrats on the Council have repeatedly attempted to provide more funding for the city’s schools, only to have those efforts veteoed by Stewart or voted down by Council Republicans.

Rep. Sanchez pointedly criticized Stewart for her comments and low location education funding last week, saying, “During Mayor Stewart‘s term, New Britain has gone from middle of the pack to dead last in achievement and funding,” also saying that, “She recently made statements that blamed the school system itself, removing any responsibility from her administration, which has refused to increase funding in recent years.”

Stewart has been criticized for repeatedly flat-funding the city’s funding for the operating budget of New Britain schools.

Stewart essentially admitted, in her state of the city comments, that she has flat-funded the city’s schools, saying, “Every year, the Consolidated School District of New Britain receives about $126 million of taxpayer money, and today, it is dead last, when every metric within the state of Connecticut education performance index.”

But critics have pointed to Stewart’s flat-funding of schools as an important reason for those 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 reported 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.

In 2019, the New Britain Progressive reported that, at that time, it appeared that it would have taken a $14 million or more per year local education funding increase from the city to get the city up to the average amount cities and towns spent as a portion of their local ability to pay, apparently leaving New Britain’s city commitment to annual school operating budgets far behind the benchmarks that appear correlated with higher educational outcomes.

“As Chair of the Education Committee in our State Legislature,” Rep. Sanchez said last week, “I have worked tirelessly alongside the other members of our delegation to deliver as much money and resources as possible to our city.”

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. Senator Rick Lopes (D-6), then a state representative, and Rep. Peter Tercyak (D-26) joined Rep. Bobby Sanchez in voting to approve that budget. Rep. Manny Sanchez (D-24) was elected to the state legislature later that year.

“We have delivered millions back to our city but without partners on the city level that care about education our schools will continue to be underfunded,” Rep. Bobby Sanchez said last week.

“What is most tragic in these discussions,” said Rep. Sanchez said last week, “is that we lose track of the kids. When adults who are in positions to improve their lives are simply pointing fingers they lose. As a former teacher this truly saddens me because our kids have enough to deal with here in New Britain.”

The New Britain Progressive has a standing request to Stewart’s office to share press comments she makes with the Progressive.