Shulman Unveils State and Local Vision
NEWINGTON - Full education funding for municipalities under the state’s aid formula, continued investment in STEM and manufacturing sectors, and responsible budgeting headline House candidate Josh Shulman’s â€"vision for Newington and Connecticut”-posted on the campaign Facebook page on August 26.

       Shulman, an attorney and Board of Education member, is challenging incumbent Representative Gary Byron for the 27th District seat.

       He’s been outspoken on school funding-particularly what he describes as an overreliance on property tax revenue in local education-and is calling on the state to chip in â€"its fair share”. Last March, the Connecticut Mirror released a breakdown of both underfunded and overfunded districts, with Newington coming in $7.7 million short of what it would be entitled to under the state’s Education Cost Sharing (ECS) formula.

       â€"It’s really hurting us, because we’re a built-out community that’s not seeing any growth in the Grand List,” Shulman said during a phone conversation last week. â€"We’ve always had a supportive community. We’ve put up the money, but you wind up in a situation where your Grand List isn’t growing and the taxpayers can’t sustain the property tax increases.”

       The ECS formula is designed to move more funds to a given municipality based on student need-measured by the number of students that qualify for free or reduced price lunches. Newington has seen that population jump, but hasn’t been reaping the additional aid that’s supposed to go with it, Shulman says.

       With widespread department cuts in Hartford this past cycle and a dismal budget forecast looming over future years, getting the state to pay more probably isn’t an objective for the near-term, Shulman said.

       â€"I’m optimistic that in the next five or so years, we can make the changes necessary,” he said.

       That means rethinking the way education is funded throughout the state, Shulman said.

       He also has his sights set on higher education-particularly state universities such as UCONN, which will see a 31 percent tuition hike over the course of the next four years.

       â€"We have to make it [college education] more affordable so people won’t be weighed down by monstrous debt,” Shulman said.

       Shulman also stresses what he says is a need to continue the state’s â€"targeted investments” in the aerospace, biomedical, and manufacturing sectors. All three are slated for long-term growth, and Newington’s own middle school STEM academies were constructed with that outlook in mind.

       â€"The biomedical sciences and aerospace fields have strong foundations in Connecticut, and we should work tirelessly to expand their footprint,” Shulman’s statement read.

       On the state’s finances, Shulman is calling for â€"realistic” tax revenue benchmarks and a move toward full funding of Connecticut’s pensions-at a Wall Street-reported 50 percent last year.

      
STORY BY MARK DIPAOLA   |  Sep 08 2016  |  COMMENTS?