Governor Ned Lamont last week pared back his proposal that would force Connecticut school districts to consolidate. But the bill before the General Assembly is unchanged.
Democratic lawmakers proposed several bills that used school regionalization as a means to make school districts more efficient and save them money. Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff says all of those bills are more or less dead. The only one that remains is Governor Ned Lamont’s.
Republicans, many Democrats, and the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education opposed his bill. They say school consolidation would take away local control of districts and burden minority communities. Duff called the opposition misleading.
“Change is hard. I think a lot of folks were concerned about merging school districts. There were opponents of the issue, and I thought they did a very good job of stirring the pot, creating fear...”
Bill Lalor is from Hands Off Our Schools, a grassroots group representing more than 10,000 residents who oppose school consolidation.
Lamont made revisions after the group spoke out against his plan. The new plan would establish a Commission on Shared School Services for the purpose of planning for school district cooperation, address capping of school construction resources, and sharing of superintendents for small districts. Lalor said it would be up to the legislature, not the governor, to change the bill at this point.
“Lamont’s changes, they have no legal effect. It’s not a change to the bill. It’s still the bill pending before the education committee. And so, forced regionalization is still very much on the table.”
The Connecticut Association of Boards of Education expects some version is likely to be approved.