Legislative Update
One of the major items I focus on as your State Senator is increasing state funding for public and special education. These are two big factors in Eastford’s budgets every year. The costs of educating children, especially for special education students, is rising. It is through property taxes. The state should do more to help. By better funding these costs, we can decrease the pressure for your property taxes to go up. It is about making Connecticut more affordable for you and your family.
I have two ambitious legislative bills:
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Increase the base amount per pupil in the Education Cost Sharing formula. It has not been updated since 2013. It needs a 45-percent increase just to catch up to 2026.
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Cover the full amount of the excess cost of special education, instead of just a fraction of the true cost.
For Eastford, this could bring in a lot more state dollars. The state can afford this without increasing taxes if it refocuses and repurposes the tax money it has already toward core government responsibilities, like public education, instead of spending on things it does not need.
The Education Committee has taken up my bills (and the bills of others) and is working on proposals. It may not be as much as I want to see, but it is a big start.
As always, please reach out to me if I can help you with a constituent matter, answer a question, or take up a concern. You can call my office at (860) 240-8800, e-mail me at [email protected], check for news and sign up for my free e-newsletter at www.senatorgordon.com, or learn about what I am doing on Facebook at “Senator Jeff Gordon.”