Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Funding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Resident urges state and federal support for special education funding
Summary
Mary Anne Sorois told the Board of Finance that special education needs are driving school costs and urged state and federal governments to stop issuing unfunded mandates, saying roughly 20% of students need special education.
During the public-comment portion of the Board of Finance workshop on April 15, resident Mary Anne Sorois addressed the panel about school funding and property taxes. She told the board Bristol property owners “cannot afford another tax increase,” argued that special education services are driving up school costs, and said “currently, 20% of enrolled students need special education.”
Sorois criticized unfunded mandates from state and federal levels and said the federal government had been expected to fund 40% of special education costs; she urged greater state and federal contributions to reduce local tax pressure. The board thanked Sorois and continued with the scheduled budget presentation; no formal response or commitment on state funding was made during the workshop.
The comment was taken as part of the public record for the workshop and was followed by a staff presentation on the draft city budget and a discussion of possible state ECS allocations that could affect how much the town needs to raise locally.
