Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

Governor M. Jodi Rell will deliver her 2009 State of the State address to a joint session of the Connecticut General Assembly tomorrow, January 7 at 12:00 pm, in the House chamber of the State Capitol. If you would like to watch the speech, please visit the Connecticut Television Network�s (CTN) website at http://www.ctn.state.ct.us. You can also read the speech tomorrow afternoon by visiting Governor Rell�s official webpage at www.ct.gov/governorrell

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It�s Time to Revolutionize Connecticut�s Educational System, To Cap Local Property Taxes, and Reform State Binding Arbitration Laws

The following Letter was forwarded to Governor Rell on January 6, 2008 by The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations. ��

Dear Governor Rell:

It�s Time to Revolutionize Connecticut�s Educational System,

To Cap Local Property Taxes, and

Reform State Binding Arbitration Laws

The Federation continues to commend and support your call to CAP LOCAL PROPERTY TAXES.�� With the decline in the economy and jobs lost, the next tsunami to strike Connecticut homeowners will be the loss of their homes through Tax Lien Sales unless our property taxes are brought under control.� Property Tax Caps are a focus of the following Jan 5, 2009 Wall Street article entitled Calls Grow to Cap Property Taxes http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB123111472983052521-lMyQjAxMDI5MzAxNTEwMTU0Wj.html

The Federation also believes that the time is right to REVOLUTIONIZE PUBLIC EDUCATION in Connecticut and to provide taxpayers with greater transparency and accountability of the spending of our tax dollars.��

We request that you empanel a Blue Ribbon Commission to review the following initiatives with the goal of providing Connecticut students with the tools they need to succeed upon graduation and taxpayers with the accountability and transparency they deserve.��

The State of New Hampshire recently announced their intent to implement an EARLY GRADUATION PROGRAM as noted within the following article.�� The Federation suggests that Connecticut should consider a similar program.�� http://www.districtadministration.com/newssummary.aspx?news=yes&postid=51393

A report produced by the School Finance Redesign Project (SFRP), with funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, captioned FACING THE FUTURE: FINANCING PUBLIC SCHOOLS was recently released.� The report can be accessed through the link which follows and provides valuable information which suggests that we don�t need to dedicate more money to improve our educational system but to instead use the money already allocated more effectively for the benefit of our students. ��Download Full Report

A visit to the following web site http://www.crpe.org/cs/crpe/view/csr_pubs/251 will offer further insight into the report which proposes to

Base accountability on performance�make superintendents and the chief of state schools responsible for judging school performance and finding better options for children whose schools do not teach them effectively.

Additional proposals include:

Drive funds to schools based on student counts�the money would be given to principals to allocate and manage within their individual schools. A weighting formula could be used to provide extra funds for disadvantaged students.
Concentrate federal funds on low-income students�direct money on the basis of student characteristics right down to the individual student�s school.
Redesign states� school finance systems for continuous improvement�demand innovation and continuous improvement, keeping what works and discarding what does not.

With educational costs soaring in Connecticut, transparency is key to providing accountability for the tax dollars spent.�� This transparency can be enhanced through CHECKBOOK REGISTERS ON LINE and CITIZEN AUDIT COMMITTEES.

The Mackinac Center campaign captioned Show Michigan the Money provides for check book registers on line for the benefit of the public which finances public education and state government.�� http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=9398

The following link provides further information on Check Book Registers through an article captioned� Some school have their books wide open through ��http://blog.mlive.com/headoftheclass/2008/12/some_school_have_their_books_w.html

Transparency can be further enhanced by supporting the establishment of CITIZEN AUDIT COMMITTEES in all Connecticut school districts (New York State mandated this as of 2006) to provide oversight of school spending practices. Dr. Armand A. Fusco, a retired Connecticut school superintendent, has been instrumental in starting such audit committees in several districts at no cost.

In September of 2008, the Federation directed a letter to you requesting that you propose to the State legislature� reforms to State Binding Arbitration laws which would in turn give municipalities the tools necessary to manage their budgets.� They include:

Allow towns to suspend Binding Arbitration for up to three years due to a downturn in the economy.
Require that local arbitration awards be ratified by a majority vote of the local legislative body.�� As in state government, if the awards are rejected, the process must begin again.�
Prohibit arbitrators from accessing a town�s undesignated savings account to fund union contracts.

The Federation believes that the timing is right for our proposals to Cap Local Property Taxes, to explore Revolutionizing Connecticut�s Educational System, and to reform State Binding Arbitration laws in that our economy is in decline, jobs are being lost, and we have a responsibility to use our existing resources more effectively.�

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In the majority of the 169 towns throughout Connecticut, more than 60% of municipal budgets are dedicated to meeting educational demands.�

Last month, James Finley, executive director of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities issued a plea to the State�s Board of Education not to rollback $237 million in school aid already dedicated to municipalities.�� You can be assured that next year a similar request will be made as public education costs increase resulting in Connecticut taxpayers paying one of the highest property taxes in the nation, second to New Jersey.�

We are hopeful that the Teachers Unions will embrace the forward thinking concepts as proposed by the Bill Gates Foundation and will, in turn, work for performance based standards among its members in order to provide a quality education for all students in Connecticut.

Again, the full report can be accessed through the following link:��

Bill Gates Foundation Report

Download Full Report (PDF: 1701 K)

Thank you for considering our requests.� We look forward to your response.

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State Legislative Calendar for January, 2009

January, 2009

Check for Updates Daily

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Office of Legislative Research Reports on

Acts Affecting Taxes

http://www.cga.ct.gov/2008/rpt/2008-R-0600.htm

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With educational costs soaring in Connecticut, transparency is key to providing accountability for the tax dollars spent.�� This transparency can be enhanced through CHECKBOOK REGISTERS ON LINE and CITIZEN AUDIT COMMITTEES.

The Mackinac Center campaign captioned Show Michigan the Money provides for check book registers on line for the benefit of the public which finances public education and state government.��� http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=9398

The following link provides further information on Check Book Registers through an article captioned� Some school have their books wide open through ��http://blog.mlive.com/headoftheclass/2008/12/some_school_have_their_books_w.html

The Mackinac Center campaign captioned Show Michigan the Money provides for check book registers on line for the benefit of the public which finances public education and state government.�� http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=9398