EMERGENCY NEWS FLASH: Legislature Voting on $3.5 Million Loan to Bridgeport/Collateral is Ed. Comm. picks superintendent. - Wait, What?: "The Connecticut Legislature is voting to give Bridgeport a $3.5 million loan but the “collateral” is Commissioner Pryor gets to pick their superintendents.
At this moment, the Connecticut House of Representatives is debating H.B. 6001, AN ACT IMPLEMENTING PROVISIONS OF THE STATE BUDGET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2012.
Hidden at the very end of the bill is one of most incredible provisions I’ve ever seen.
Section 292 of the 297 section bill “loans” the City of Bridgeport $3,500,000 to cover their budget deficit this year and takes the money from funds that had been set aside to fund schools in other parts of Connecticut. The only requirement is that the Governor Malloy’s Education Commissioner, Stefan Pryor, gets to choose Bridgeport’s superintendent."
'via Blog this'
Here is the text of a letter I sent. Feel free to copy & paste:
I have become aware of a section of HB 6001 which will give the SDE Commissioner the right to unilaterally select the superintendent of schools of Bridgeport in exchange for a $3.5 million loan to bridge a budget gap. I'm writing to encourage you to remove this language from any bill as the language is tantamount to blackmail which lends credibility to an illegally appointed board of education and gives increased power to one who is ethically challenged.
One of the reasons why Bridgeport would have a budget shortfall is because the state has failed in its duty to fully fund an adequate public education system in Bridgeport and other urban areas. The ECS fund which is to assure parity in education has been underfunded for years, placing an undue burden on already financially stressed communities. To now blackmail them into accepting these terms in order to gain access to the funds which they should already have access to is criminal.
In addition, placing that much unilateral and unaccountable power in the hands of Pryor is reckless given his recent demonstration of ethics. Pryor has spent his short tenure at the head of the SDE using funds allotted to SERC, the non-profit arm of the SDE, to feed funds to his previous connections while circumventing Connecticut's laws. His end-run around statutes created to eliminate the graft of previous administrations should be investigated and he should be removed from office, not granted additional powers.
Eliminate this language from the bill or vote the bill down.
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