June 11, 2009
The Honorable M. Jodi Rell
Governor of Connecticut
Executive Chambers
State Capitol Building
Hartford, CT 06106
Dear Governor Rell:
As you and the General Assembly discuss a state budget package, we urge you to support legislation that would grant local
governments the ability to re-open their budgets to make adjustments due to the federal ARRA education stabilization
program.
Section 19 of SB 939 of the recent session provided such language, but failed to pass as the session drew to a close. That
language would have provided that:
For the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes or
any special act, municipal charter, home rule ordinance or other ordinance, the board of finance
in each town having a board of finance, the board of selectmen in each town having no board of
finance or the authority making appropriations for the school district for each town may reduce
its budgeted appropriation to the local or regional board of education by an amount up to the
limit of funds received directly by such board from the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund pursuant
to Title XIV of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, P. L. 111-5, for such
fiscal year, provided that upon passage of the municipal budget prior to June 30, 2009, such
board of finance or such authority making appropriations for the school district for each town
failed to account for the direct provision of such fiscal stabilization funds to such local or
regional boards of education.
Without such a change, there could be significant financial crises across the state. Many municipalities have adopted their
budgets and no longer have the ability to amend them. They thus have a legal obligation to send their boards of education all
of the funding appropriated in those adopted budgets – but as the equivalent of 14% of their ECS allocations would go
directly to the boards (from the federal government) rather than to the town as part of the ECS grant, the municipal fiscal
authority would face a 14% revenue shortfall.
Passage of this legislation is critical to municipalities across the state. We urge you to work together towards passage of this
language, and stand ready to support your efforts to do so in any way necessary.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
James J. Finley, Jr.
Executive Director & CEO
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Joseph Cirasuolo
Executive Director
CT Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS)
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