Last Wednesday, Governor Dannel Malloy sat down with the New Haven Register’s Editorial Board to discuss the state budget.  During the interview he said something enlightening:

“I think the legislature has become fond of giving everyone a veto to the budget. The unions have a veto. The local governments have a veto. The hospitals have a veto. Everybody else has a veto, which makes getting their job done very hard. We need to undo that.”

Ok, by “enlightening,”  I actually meant infuriating.

Are theses “vetos” halting talk of school funding reform?

Kids are head back to school this week, and the uncertainty caused by the state’s two-month long budget stalemate has districts cutting staff and rolling back programs.

In Bridgeport, 13 literacy coaches were let go, the parent center was closed and they are currently on a hiring freeze. Norwalk cut Curriculum and Site Instructional Directors, roles that were vital to the district’s recent progress. In response to possible budget cuts, there are even some districts, for example, Torrington, that are delaying opening schools in order to make up the difference.

A year ago, the courts struck down Connecticut’s education funding system deeming it unconstitutional in the CCJEF v. Rell school funding trial, and as of yet, there’s been no real plan — neither in the Republican or Democrat budget proposals– to fix school funding.

Earlier in the session, there was momentum to rewrite the state’s formula, but what happened? Maybe our governor is on to something when he points out the trouble with the budget process?