Southington Leaders Praise Special Education Funding Boost

SOUTHINGTON, CT — Local officials this week praised the Senate and House passage of a $40 million special education appropriation for Connecticut towns this year, with Southington expected to benefit.

State Rep. Christopher Poulos, D-Southington, said he voted in favor of the measure and praised the bill, which will "bring hundreds of thousands of dollars of special education funding relief to Southington schools and taxpayers."

The bipartisan votes created, according to Poulos, "an immediate $40 million injection of state funding to municipalities to support special education expenses for the current fiscal year."

He said the School and State Finance Project estimates Southington will receive $653,705 to cover excess special education costs this year, including aid for staffing, programming, and outplacements for students.

The House approved the measure Monday and the state Senate approved the bill Tuesday.

“This funding injection is just one step in a broader commitment to supporting special education,” said Poulos in a statement. “While this immediate relief will help ease the financial strain on municipal governments, our focus remains on implementing systemic solutions for long-term stability and sustainable support.”

Southington Superintendent of Schools Steven Madancy also praised the influx of funding that is coming the school system's way.

"The passage of this bill will provide immediate relief to our district and I am grateful to the legislature for taking this action," Madancy said in a statement released by Poulos' office.

"This funding will greatly assist in making the district whole for excess special education costs and will help cover the shortfall from our budgeted projection. It will also aid in offsetting costs associated with the unexpected outplacement of students."

While the bill has bipartisan support in both chambers, it doesn't have support in Gov. Ned Lamont's office.

While Lamont has not said he would veto the bill, he did express concerns about the process of quickly approving a sudden, stop-gap measure.

“Even while well-intentioned, the way this funding was hastily approved by the legislature is reminiscent of how budgeting was dangerously done in the past," Lamont said in a statement Tuesday.

"These concerns, combined with expenses that are already pushing beyond the spending cap, are why I cannot support adding this significant expenditure this late in the fiscal year without a plan to cover budget overruns."

Should Lamont veto the funding, both the House and Senate could override his veto, with both votes showing the legislature would, likely, have the support to do so, according to WVIT Channel 30.

For the full, WVIT Channel 30 report, click on this link.