Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy has vetoed his first bill this year. It would have prevented him or future governors from cutting education funding to cities and towns to close a budget deficit mid-year.
Malloy proposed cuts to education grants in the middle of this budget cycle when the state was facing a shortfall. Cities scrambled to adjust their budgets. The cuts didn’t happen because the state collected more tax revenue than expected and lawmakers passed a balanced budget.
Senate Republican Leader Len Fasano criticized the Governor’s veto, but says he won’t try to override it.
“It doesn’t matter. He can have this. The language protecting municipalities is virtually identical in the budget.”
Malloy says if lawmakers want to avoid cuts to education in the future, they should pass state budgets that identify specific savings elsewhere.
In recent years, the legislature has left it to Malloy to make unspecified cuts.