More School Funding? Yes, And …

by Thomas Breen

A day after Gov. Ned Lamont came to Westville and said that improving a public school system is “not always about more money,” three candidates for a west-side state rep seat argued that — well — New Haven does actually need more money.

They also offered differing takes on just how hard the city needs to work to prove to the state that those education dollars are being well spent.

But still, regardless, more money needs to flow.

State Rep. Pat Dillon and challengers Eli Sabin and Justin Farmer offered variations on those takes Tuesday night during a debate for the 92nd General Assembly District race, hosted by the Independent at Coogan Pavilion. All three Democrats will be on the ballot for the Aug. 11 Democratic primary.

After each candidate’s opening statements, the first question I asked as moderator focused on comments that Lamont made in Westville’s Lyric Hall on Monday, as well as comments that gubernatorial challenger Josh Elliott made in Fair Haven earlier on Tuesday.

When speaking with Greater Westville Indivisible members, Lamont cautioned that more money from the state does not necessarily equal a higher-quality education at the local level. Meanwhile, when speaking alongside city teachers union members, Elliott said that individual municipalities like New Haven or Greenwich can’t solve the problem of educational inequality, but the state can.

“I think we do need more money,” Dillon replied when asked about her thoughts on education funding and a state legislator’s role in helping improve public education in New Haven.

That said, “it’s true that money is not enough.”

She noted that New Haven’s state delegation “delivered about $22 million extra this year.” And that’s not even counting the roughly $20 million to $30 million “delivered simply by forgiving the problems in the school construction plan that were found in the audits.” She said the legislature included language “that waived the liability for the city” around those problems, saving the district tens of millions of dollars.

“As someone actually trained to be a teacher at one point, I do think that the resources have to be there,” Dillon concluded. “But I also believe that the dollars need to be administered correctly.”

Farmer was more direct in his assessment. “We need more funding for schools. Period. Easy,” he said.

He argued that the Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula is “unequally funded,” leaving school districts like New Haven’s and Hamden’s “tens of millions” of dollars short “every single year.”

“We have to have honest conversations at the local level about how we spend the money,” he continued. “But yes, simplistically, we do need more money.”

Where would that extra money from the state come from? Through a capital gains tax, Farmer said. Through abolishing the state’s fiscal guardrails. Through taxing the “tech giants.”

“Where there is a will,” Farmer said, “there’s a way.”

“I think this is the defining challenge facing New Haven and our state right now,” Sabin said at the start of his response.

For too long, he said, “we’ve had an education-funding system that divides our communities into different towns that have wildly different and disparate school systems,” leading to “wildly different tax rates,” leading to high property taxes as municipalities like New Haven desperately try to fund schools without enough support from the state.

Sabin pointed out that the ECS foundation grant “has been basically frozen at a little over $11,000 since 2013.” This year saw a one-time boost to around $13,000. “We have to increase the funding” to what it would have reached with inflation, he said, which would be around $15,000. That would bring around $50 million more per year to New Haven’s school system.

If elected, he promised to advocate not just for more funding from the state, but also for efforts to “try to improve transparency” so that everyone — “especially the governor” — knows that that state money is “reaching the classroom.”

In subsequent 30-second rebuttals, each candidate elaborated on their initial answers while responding to what their opponents had just said.

Dillon pointed out that the key drivers of education costs right now are around special education and transportation. “We need to take those on in addition to ECS.”

Sabin doubled down on the state legislature providing “guidance and transparency around long-term financial planning for school districts.” As the former chair of the Board of Alders Education Committee, Sabin said he saw up close the “lack of confidence in how that money is spent.” He promised to lead the “fight for more money” while also making sure the money is spent well. “I think that is an obligation of our state government.”

Farmer, meanwhile, stressed the “cultural issue” underlying educational inequality. Too many people think that, “if they learn next to me … their child won’t get into Harvard.” He said that school districts spend too much on buses in part because “we prioritize sports over education.”

“It’s a cultural issue,” he concluded.