State Representative Mitch Bolinsky (R-106) said he is “off to a sprinting start” during the current congressional session, which started January 8 and adjourns June 4.

Special education is one of Bolinsky’s focuses this session, with the creation of the Select Committee on Special Education, a subset of the larger education commission.

Bolinsky said that parents with autistic children have been expressing frustration for years that their children are not getting necessary attention and not “really being given the opportunities that by law we should provide.”

“The state has a long history of not funding special education or education at large,” said Bolinsky.

Bolinsky said that Connecticut has a heavy reliance on property taxes to make the schools run, and spends roughly $40,000 per student as opposed to the average in other states of $18,000 “or so.” He also noted that Connecticut is about 60% through a 10-year change in how Educational Cost Sharing works, meaning it will largely phase out in Newtown’s District Reference Group (DRG) and more will go to inner city schools that are “already funded at a high rate.”

However, to Bolinsky, the special education piece is “so important.”

“If we can detect early, in some cases in pre-school, we end up with early diagnosis and supports that are in some cases as a reading resource, the student will not fall behind,” said Bolinsky, who noted that children who fall behind often never catch back up.

Helping children stay in their school instead of outplacing them someplace with more resources can save a town $80,000 per year per student. The state only funds part of that amount.

Bolinsky said that in 2024, the director in charge of special education celebrated their first year anniversary and then departed for another job, citing “headwinds and lack of support,” forcing things back to “square one.”

That was the impetus behind forming the Select Committee on Special Education, to get the ball rolling again.

“We’re all trying to get a feel for how things work and what our roles are,” said Bolinsky. “I’ve had legislation for like five to six years on special education. In schools it costs a lot of money to offset mandates we as a legislature put on them but then don’t fund. It all floats to the taxpayer and then into budget battles each year.”

With approximately 20% of the average student population having special education needs, and that 20% costing as much as four times per pupil as other students, Bolinsky says the select committee will be committed to “good science and best practice” in helping municipalities bear the cost burdens, especially in keeping students in place in their own districts rather than needing to be bussed, which can be considerably expensive for a district.

“If you keep kids in the community and in their buildings, they’ll never fall behind,” said Bolinsky. “For me that makes so much sense.”

Bolinsky discussed the budget and the end of pandemic relief funds, noting that the recipients of funds were told to not use the money to create permanent liabilities as there would not be an ability to continue that funding.

He also noted that state employees’ salaries increased significantly during that period, by approximately 33%, which was workable when the state was “flush with $2.5 billion in ARPA funds” but now we have a “really big problem.”

Bolinsky noted that a lot of what is keeping Connecticut’s budget in the green is the good stock market through “Wall Street capital gains.” It also helps that Connecticut paid down a lot of its unfunded liabilities.

Bolinsky also discussed aging issues, such as care facilities. He noted that Connecticut has been struggling with corporations coming in and buying the facilities and then refusing to invest in or maintain them. He said a lot of costs are cut by outsourcing services such as laundry, landscaping, and snow removal. Many times these shell companies skim money off the top.

“Look at what Prospect Holdings did to Waterbury Hospital,” said Bolinsky. “They sold the land the building is on out from under them and charge them three times the market rate in rent by shadow companies in Prospect. We want that to stop. Private equity has no ethical compass, it will steal from itself until it dies.”

The Newtown Convalescent Center had a private owner that took money out of the business but not to invest, said Bolinsky.

“It eventually became so cash strapped that they stopped paying for health insurance for the employees,” said Bolinsky. “The state had to take it over in 2021 or 2022.”

Bolinsky noted part of the solution is increasing the use of ombudsmen to act as watchdogs for our health care and elderly facilities.

Bolinsky is also hoping to get an open container bill passed, noting that Connecticut is losing $10 million per year in federal matching funding for not complying with federal guidelines.

“We’ve lost $130 million for our highways in refusing to comply with guidelines,” said Bolinsky, who noted he was the only one who voted against last year’s transportation omnibus bill because an open container provision was not included. “Impaired drivers always hurt someone who had nothing to do with it. It’s preventable.”

Bolinsky says he has a bill, HB-573, that would limit where compression braking could be used. Compression brakes are used on trucks and are unpopular with many due to the loud noise generated.

“Those brakes are the bane of existence for anyone living on Riverside Road,” said Bolinsky.

One “favorite thing” for Bolinsky is a piece of legislation passed to get an easement to cross the Housatonic Railroad by the Batchelder property. He said 2025 will see the advent of the rail trail coming first to the area near the lumberyards and then extending to Fairfield Hills and beyond.

“We’ve been working on this for 20 years,” said Bolinsky. “We couldn’t get anyone to let us cross the rail spur even though it hasn’t been used in 15 years. Now, a lot of people are happy.”

Another local related piece of legislation that was passed was removing the deed restriction from 6 Commerce that required it to be used for economic development. This has been long requested by many around town who would like to see the property as open space. While the deed restriction removal does not prevent its development as economic development, it does open the property up to many other possibilities including remaining as open space.

Editor Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.