The Lamont administration wants to spend $800,000 to hire experts to help school districts regionalize and consolidate services in Connecticut.
Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell says three new positions are needed because the state’s 170 independent school districts have found it difficult to voluntarily consolidate and regionalize services.
“What we’d like to do is with our regional education centers [is] develop a protocol for how to support shared school services, whether it’s between a municipality and their school district or among municipalities. It’s a very intense process and we need to support them with fiscal support and with legal support. So very likely two of those staff members…one would be a fiscal person and one would be a legal person. There’s so much to manage in those areas.”
Wentzell says the third expert would assist the districts coordinate their plans. She spoke before the General Assembly’s Appropriations Committee.
Governor Lamont’s budget proposal to regionalize schools to save money has been controversial. Opponents say districts should remain autonomous.
