State Senator Thomas P. Gaffey
August 11, 2009
Gaffey Slams Governor’s Budget Office For Cuts To Vo-Tech Teaching Staff, Athletics Programs
With classes set to start on August 27, system-wide teaching staff will be down more than 52 percent
State Senator Thomas P. Gaffey (D-Meriden) today took the state Office of Policy and Management (OPM) and Governor M. Jodi Rell to task for leaving the state’s 16 remaining vocational technical schools with a severe shortage of teaching staff and little hope of getting fall athletic programs off the ground with little more than two weeks left before the start of classes.
Senator Gaffey, who serves as Senate chair of the General Assembly’s Education Committee, said that Governor Rell’s budget office will only allow the vocational technical school system to fill 48 percent of the 161 positions now vacant through the statewide Retirement Incentive Program. Subtracting 14 positions designated for public safety positions, this amounts to only 52 new teachers for a system of 10,000 students — a population greater than the entirety of some urban school districts like New Britain.
“I don’t know of any school district in the state of Connecticut that could take this kind of hit in teaching staff,” said Senator Gaffey. “We’re talking about the lives and educations of 10,000 kids that are left hanging while the governor tours the state cutting ribbons and signing bills that she already signed months ago. Where is the urgency from Governor Rell? Where is the urgency from OPM?”
Further, Governor Rell and OPM have not released any funding for coaches and athletic directors. With deadlines for athletic plans and scheduling due to the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference tomorrow, Senator Gaffey said that OPM is effectively shutting down fall athletics programs at vo-tech schools across Connecticut.
“These actions, or rather inaction, are rude, they’re inconsiderate and they’ve left a district of 16 separate schools completely at a loss,” Senator Gaffey said. “The governor might not have touched the education cost sharing grant, but she has cut funding for an entire school district. That’s not responsible; that’s balancing a budget on the future workforce of our state.”
Senator Gaffey is presently serving his eighth term. In addition to his responsibility for the Education Committee he is vice-chair of the Select Committee on Aging and serves on the Finance, Revenue, and Bonding and Legislative Management Committees as well.
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