How does a town like Farmington receive a 153 percent allotment of state Educational Cost Sharing (ECS) funding - while Newtown, with myriad demographic similarities - only sees 47 percent of its entitled share?

That was the question on the minds of Legislative Council members as they welcomed three members of Newtown's legislative delegation to their regular meeting January 18. Those lawmakers, Representatives Mitch Bolinsky, J.P. Sredzinski, and Will Duff, as well as several town officials including First Selectman Pat Llodra and Councilman Ryan Knapp, suggested the reason could be something as simple as political favoritism.

But those officials acknowledged that Newtown's membership in what Rep Bolinsky referred to as the "under 50 percent club," could also be partially or fully the result of a well-intended program to help state school districts cover the cost of rapidly escalating services that has become so convoluted the program itself needs to be blown up and reassembled from scratch.

Newtown and two of its three General Assembly members who now sit on the powerful Appropriations Committee aim to see that happen. At the same time, they told the council and a number of other elected leaders on hand from the Boards of Finance and Education to be poised to launch a coordinated effort to ensure the co-chairs of that legislative committee do not kill the initiative before it even has an opportunity to go to public hearing.

The lawmakers said that the move to begin retooling the state ECS formula could launch as early as next week - and it could end just as quickly unless significant public pressure is put on the Education Committee's leadership and members to accept proposed reform legislation and bring it to a hearing sooner rather than later.

Calling it "probably the most complex formula ever," School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, has watched from its inception as ECS funding across the state has been reduced in piecemeal fashion for years. He defended Governor Dannel Malloy for putting the brakes on further reductions, until this year.

"Prior to Governor Malloy there was a reduction every year," Dr Erardi said. "But things are so dire now, Newtown was reduced by $186,000."

Illustrating disparities in the ECS formula and how those disparities hit Newtown taxpayers square in the wallet, the superintendent contrasted his district to another one with many formulaic similarities.

"Milford is fully funded at $11 million, and they get it," Dr Erardi said. "Newtown is supposed to be [fully] funded at about $10 million, and we get $5 million."

Nonetheless, the superintendent said the prospect of promoting legislation to ensure no towns are funded at more than 100 percent and no less than 50 percent of the ECS formula is "dicey."

"We're taking from some to give to others," he said. "There are land mines everywhere. But we're all in and we hope to have the support of everyone around the table."

Even if the initially proposed adjustments to the formula are ultimately successful, Rep Bolinsky said the prospect of seeing the ECS situation fully and fairly reformed will be a long haul. But as an Education Committee member himself, and with both he and Rep Sredzinski sitting on the Appropriations Committee, this year could represent the best possible chance to begin the process.

"Reforming ECS funding is going to take a long time," Rep Bolinsky said. "We're anticipating a multiyear process. It's going to be an uphill battle for towns like Newtown to get its fair share in the future."

Who Is To Blame?

The local lawmaker said it was frustrating to learn that there had been so many adjustments to the ECS formula over the years, but no record of who made them.

"Basically we're looking at ten years of back room deals outside the intent of the ECS formula," he said. "This is absolute justification for reforming the formula from the ground up. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know it needs to be rebalanced."

News about a movement toward incremental ECS reform was not sprung on local officials this week. On January 3, Mrs Llodra revealed an effort to align a coalition of towns receiving significantly less than their share of funding to aggressively support lobbying for a fairer distribution scenario.

The first selectman said she received a solicitation from Woodbury finance official William Monti, hoping to enlist Newtown among communities that would lobby together to proportionately restore shortfalls in ECS funding by shifting money from towns and cities regularly receiving more than 100 percent of their ECS share to those getting less than 50 percent.

"It's an issue of basic fairness," Mrs Llodra told the Council and lawmakers. "I'm also concerned that numbers are all over the place. Unless there is some stability to the process about hold backs in aid, its going to be worse for Newtown. Going forward, don't hurt us more than you have to."

Rep Bolinsky responded, saying there were already three proposed bills in development to attack current disparities with fairness in mind.

"It's our job to bring this to a public hearing," he said. "But the first inclination I'm getting from last year's Education Committee chairmen is they want to kill it. It will take support from towns across the state who are members of that under 50 percent club to bring in the big guns.

"If we can fill a room with council and Board of Education members and citizens, that's where we move the meter," Rep Bolinsky added. "Our chances of getting ECS reform into a committee bill starts next week. If we don't get it there, nothing else matters."

Communicate To Chairs

To that end, the local lawmakers urged town leaders to communicate to the education committee chairs to pay attention to the issue and bring the bill to a public hearing.

"We can start supporting this as soon as we get a bill number," Rep Bolinsky said.

"Don't you think Farmington is going to fight to keep their amount?" Rep Duff added. "They don't want the tax increase."

Councilman Knapp called out the current ECS formula as "arbitrary and subjective," saying it was extremely frustrating "when we're talking about pressures on our budget and we see other similar communities getting twice as much in the formula as we are getting."

Seemingly pushed beyond the point of frustration, Newtown's normally diplomatic first selectman let fly, calling lawmakers' and the governor's apparent tweaking of funding ratios to significantly benefit certain communities with no rhyme or reason "political deal making."

Calling on all officials and residents to rally behind a fairer ECS formula, even if it results in being politically penalized with further local reductions, the first selectman threw down the gauntlet declaring, "I say we call out the devil, even if we get slapped again."

Residents may e-mail their thoughts on proposed ECS reform legislation to the following members of the legislative education committee:housedems.ct.gov/FleischmannGayle S. Slossberg (D)senatedems.ct.gov/Slossberg.phpctsenaterepublicans.com/home-boucherhousedems.ct.gov/SanchezBeth Bye (D)senatedems.ct.gov/Bye.phpHeather Bond Somers (R)ctsenaterepublicans.com/home-somers

Co-Chairs:

Andrew M. Fleischmann (D)

Toni Boucher (R)

Vice Chairs:

Robert Sanchez (D)

This story was updated at 3 pm January 20 to correct legislative committee assignment details. Reps Mitch Bolinsky and JP Sredzinski both serve on the Appropriations Committee. Rep Bolinsky also serves on the Education Committee.