NEWINGTON - A Byron campaign press release issued Tuesday is questioning the Board of Education spending record of State House candidate Josh Shulman, but the challenger for the 27th Assembly District seat says that the proposed increases listed-over a four year period-don’t tell the whole story.

       Gary Byron 2016 Campaign Manager Mark Pappa said that the statement was released in response to Shulman campaign literature stating that the current Board member â€�"had kept budget increases low” during his five-year tenure.

       They then go to the numbers, highlighting Board budget increase proposals from 2013 to this year’s past cycle. The Board requested 5.9 percent in 2013, 4.9 percent in 2014, and 4.8 percent last year.

       This year’s requested 4.2 percent almost became zero-but Board and Council negotiations yielded a 1.2 percent increase formed partially by the establishment of a non-lapsing account for the retention of Board surplus funds.

       "My opponent's voting record on spending doesn't align with someone who will keep spending in check or not raise your taxes,” Byron said in the press release.

       In an email, Shulman described the press release's citing of the numbers as â€�"technically accurate, but incredibly misleading”. The increase requests listed reflect pre-Council negotiation budgets that include Capital Improvement Program (CIP) items-which are later moved out of the operating figure- and early health benefit cost projections, he said.

       â€�"It also includes requests we want the public to be able to talk to the Town Council about, such as world language teachers this past year,” Shulman wrote.

       Pappa said that the Board requests are worth bringing up because they would reflect the actual increases if the Council allowed it, but Shulman says that the proposals include initiatives the Board is â€�"99 percent” sure will not pass just as a way to prompt â€�"discussion over the direction of our schools”.

       Approved increases for the past five years-2.88 percent, 4.34 percent, 2.94 percent, 2.65 percent, and 0.5 percent-average out to 2.66 percent, Shulman said. This past year’s 0.5 percent excludes the addition of the Board’s own surplus.

       Shulman asserted that the average â€�"is far lower than anything over the past 20 years”, attributing the trend to â€�"millions” of union negotiation-driven health benefits savings.

       By Newington Public Schools numbers, the approved Board increases averaged 5.41 percent between 2000 and 2009. Between 1990 and 1999, the average increase was 3.22 percent.

       Byron, who voted against the state budget twice throughout his first term, has pledged to oppose any tax increase from Hartford and the Malloy administration.

       At a recent campaign event held at the Lucy Welles Robbins Public Library, Shulman stopped short of making that pledge, saying that while cuts may be appropriate in some cases, legislators are caught between working to preserve services for the state’s most vulnerable-an objective he and Byron share-while trying to cut reduce spending in a period of deficit-driven fiscal crisis.

       The ideal approach would center on a more rigorous revenue projection process, as well as a harder push toward fully funded pension liability for longer-term budget solutions, he said.

       Byron said that while he is more than willing to make cuts to decrease spending, they should be made carefully and selectively-preferably avoiding areas like services for seniors, veterans, and the physically and mentally disabled.

       â€�"There are other areas the Governor can cut that aren’t as direct to the human being,” he said over the phone.

       Byron pointed to the $100 billion earmarked for the state’s ailing transportation infrastructure-a 30-year initiative known as Let’s Go CT.

       â€�"I’m not saying our infrastructure doesn’t need help, but it doesn’t need $100 billion right now,” Byron said.

       While critical areas such as deteriorating roads and bridges should be prioritized, other more â€�"wasteful” initiatives, like the Let’s Go CT envisioned expansion of the CT FasTrak busway network-launched in 2015-should move to the back burner until its success can be adequately measured, Byron said.