‘State Senate passes bill giving $40 million in funding for special education’ | News 8

As published by News 8:

“It’s Christmas for various entities that are aligned with the Democratic majority,” State Sen. Rob Sampson said on of the funding for LGBTQ groups and Planned Parenthood the Senate floor.

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH)– Shortly after 5 p.m. on Tuesday, the Connecticut State Senate passed the second of two wide-ranging bills on an emergency basis. The single biggest item included in the two bills, which also passed in the state House late Monday night, is $40 million in immediate assistance to local school districts to cover costs associate with special education.

Gov. Ned Lamont has spoken out forcefully against the $40 million, arguing the state’s existing legal cap on spending does not have room for additional dollars.

In a statement shortly after the bill’s passage, Lamont said, “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.”

“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,” Lamont said.

Reacting to the Governor’s opposition to the special education funding bill ahead of Tuesday’s Senate vote, State Senate President Martin Looney (D) said that the funding will go a long way to help these programs fill gaps created by funding shortfalls.

“We know it’s something of a great challenge for communities large and small because special ed placements are hard to plan for, hard to budget for. There’s a shortfall this year,” Looney said.

As for how Republicans were feeling about the measure, State Senate Minority Leader Stephen Harding (R) said he believed there was room in the budget and that there was a broad consensus of support from his Republican colleagues. All Republicans in the State Senate voted for the measure.

Lamont is currently out of the state on a trade mission in India.

The legislation that included the $40 million in special education funding passed the State Senate unanimously after passing nearly unanimously in the state House. Also included in that bill is a provision intended to help reach a resolution in the ongoing troubles at Prospect Medical Holdings, which owns several Connecticut hospitals including Waterbury Hospital. The decision to pair the hospital provisions with the special education might complicate the governor’s decision to veto or sign the legislation. While Lamont has been strongly critical of the special education plan, his administration has pushed hard for the hospital measure.

A separate piece of legislation which combined a number of unrelated measures passed largely along partisan lines in both chambers of the legislature. That bill included about $3 million in funding for Planned Parenthood and LGBTQ organizations, a prohibition on the use of Chinese-made drones by Connecticut law enforcement agencies, and a measure that will allow UConn to directly pay student athletes.

“It’s Christmas for various entities that are aligned with the Democratic majority,” State Sen. Rob Sampson said on of the funding for LGBTQ groups and Planned Parenthood the Senate floor. 

Looney responded to the criticism from Republicans.

“These particular grantees were chosen because they are under siege and under attack from their national government,” Looney said.

Republicans in the State Senate meanwhile objected to this new requirement for schools and criticized Democrats for lumping these measures together into two bills.

“This should be all separate issues that we as legislators can take independent votes on,” Harding said.