Preliminary Analysis of Governors Budget Proposal - FY17 Midterm Adjustments

On February 3, Governor Malloy proposed midterm adjustments to the FY17 budget. These proposals
included a block grant-style method of funding state agencies and departments. For the State Department
of Educations (SDE) budget, this block grant approach consolidated a number of line items into a single
agency operating funds line item. The Governor proposed cuts of 5.75% across agencies (including SDE,
but excluding the ECS line item within the SDE budget, which remained a separate line item and was held
constant at FY16 funding levels).
From the Governors budget introduction: The budget recommended here is extraordinarily challenging,
and includes deep cuts to all areas of discretionary spending. It calls for spending to be reduced from the
original FY 2017 budget by 2.8 percent; an increase of only one percent over FY 2016 estimated spending.
Excluding debt service and fringe benefits, the General Fund budget is actually $165 million below FY 2016
spending levels. This reduction is achieved by carrying forward the cuts made in the December
special session, making targeted policy changes, and ultimately by cutting 5.75 percent from all
agency operating budgets, excluding only Education Equalization Grants (ECS), entitlement
accounts, and mandated costs such as pension and debt service payments.1
Proposed State Department of Education Budget

SDEs general fund was cut by $9.7MM (-0.3%)

The $9.7MM cuts include (but may not be limited to):
o Flat funding the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) grant at the FY16 level
o Reducing the Personal Services line item in Central Office and Connecticut Technical High
School System
o Eliminating general grant funding support for Regional Educational Service Centers (except
RESCs' work on minority teacher recruitment, which is maintained)
o Eliminating Adult Education Pilot Programs in Manchester and Meriden
o Eliminating CommPACT Schools funding
o Eliminating funding for Alternative High School and Adult Reading Incentive Program
o Eliminating certain funding in After School Grants in Montville, Plainville, Thompson and
Solar Youth
Forty-nine SDE line items were zeroed out and then eliminated, transferred, or rolled into a
new Agency Operations line item that totals $362MM. This line includes the Common Core,
the Commissioners Network, Talent Development, the K-3 Reading Assessment, Longitudinal Data
Systems, and other key programs.2
Nine line items were kept separate: Transportation of School Children, Adult Education,
Education Equalization Grants (ECS), Priority School Districts, Excess Cost - Student Based (SpEd),
Non-Public School Transportation, Youth Service Bureaus, Open Choice Program, and Magnet
Schools.
Changes to these separate line items include:
o Education Equalization Grants (ECS) Held at the FY16 amount that was approved by
the General Assembly at the end of the 2015 session, leaving the new proposed total at
$2,160,981,539 (See Table 1).

http://www.ct.gov/opm/cwp/view.asp?a=2958&Q=576624&PM=1
The following were consolidated into the Agency Operations line item: Personal Services, Other Expenses, Development of Mastery
Exams, Primary Mental Health, Adult Education Action, Resource Equity Assessment, Longitudinal Data Systems, School Accountability,
Sheff Settlement, Parents' Trust Fund, Regional Vocational-Technical School System, Commissioner's Network, New or Replicated
Schools, K-3 Reading Assessment Pilot, Talent Development, Common Core, Special Master, School-Based Diversion Initiative,
American School for the Deaf, Regional Education Services, Family Resource Centers, Youth Service Bureau Enhancement, Child Nutrition
State Match, Health Foods Initiative, Vocational Agriculture, Health and Welfare Services Pupils Private Schools, Bilingual Education, Youth
Parents Program, Interdistrict Cooperation, School Breakfast Program, and After School Program.
2

www.conncan.org (203) 772-4017 85 Willow St. New Haven CT 06511


Table 1: Education Equalization Line Item
Fiscal Year (FY)

Amount

$ Change
Year over Year

% Difference
Year over Year

FY15 Final

$2,130,644,892

FY16 Final

$2,155,833,601

+$25,188,709

+1.2%

FY17 Final3

$2,172,454,969

+$16,621,368

+0.8%

FY17 Governor Proposed

Revision

$2,160,981,539

-$11,473,430

-0.5%

o
o
o
o

Charter Schools Reduced for FY16 and restored for FY17. State charter schools are
funded through the Education Equalization Grants line item and received cuts to funding
during the deficit mitigation plan passed by the legislature in December 2015.
Magnet Schools - Reduced by $18.7MM. The proposed new budget is lower than the final
FY16 levels as well.
Open Choice Program - Reduced by $3.0MM. This reduction is about the same as the
cuts that the Appropriations Committee recommended for FY17 during last session.
Priority School Districts - Reduced by $2.6MM. Funding for this grant program has
steadily declined year after year, and this proposed budget is the lowest funding for the
program in at least the last five years.

Proposed Office of Early Childhood (OEC) Budget

The Office of Early Childhoods (OEC) general fund was increased by $3.4k
Although the budget increased slightly, the Governor recommended program cuts and
adjustments that include (but may not be limited to):
o Transferring the Healthy Start Program from the Department of Social Services to the OEC
o Eliminating funding for Even Start, a program that gives families access to the training and
support they need to create a literate home environment and to enhance the academic
achievement of their children.4 The Even Start program represented 0.15% of the total final
FY17 OEC general fund at the end of last session.
o Eliminating funding for Improving Early Literacy Program
Nineteen OEC line items were zeroed out and then eliminated, transferred, or split between
two new line items Agency Operations5 and Early Care and Education. The new Early
Care and Education line item consolidated the following line items and programs: Early Childhood
Program, Child Care Services, Child Care Services-TANF/ CCDBG (Care 4 Kids), and School
Readiness in order to facilitate the streamlining of these early care and education funding streams.

Cuts made in the FY 2016 deficit mitigation plan passed by the legislature in December 2015 were carried forward and are accounted for in
the Governors proposed budget.
4
http://www.ct.gov/oec/cwp/view.asp?a=4541&q=536636
5
The following were consolidated into the Agency Operations line item: Personal Services, Other Expenses, Children's Trust Fund, Early
Intervention (Birth to Three), Community Plans for Early Childhood, Head Start Services, Child Care Quality Enhancements, Head Start-Early
Childhood Link, Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership, and School Readiness Quality Enhancement.

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