Tom Foley today issued a statement claiming Gov. Malloy cut education spending.

In a subsequent statement, Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo refuted the Foley claim.

 

“It is becoming increasingly difficult to take Tom Foley seriously. He is recklessly misstating basic facts almost every day," DiNardo's statement said. "You wonder if Republican delegates might want to call for a do-over in their voting," said Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo. “Tom Foley needs to stop distorting the facts - funding has increased, student outcomes are improving, and Connecticut schools are moving forward. It is a reckless insult for Mr. Foley to suggest otherwise by continuing to make false claims.”

 

Foley issued the following statement (unedited here and posted merely to share it; math is that of Foley campaign):

"I recently criticized Malloy for cutting spending on K-12 education.  Governor Malloy responded through surrogates saying he has increased education spending. That’s a nice try, but the Governor has always used the current services budget as his baseline for determining what’s been cut. Now he wants to say he increased spending on something, so he’s switching to prior year spending as his baseline.  You can’t have it both ways, Governor.  Malloy Math is hard enough to understand without changing the definition of the word 'cut.'

"Here are the facts presented from three different perspectives showing that education spending has been cut under Governor Malloy:

1. In each year of his administration, Governor Malloy has recommended and received cuts to the current services budget for Department of Education general fund expenditures:
 

Fiscal Year	Current Services Budget	Governor's Recommendation	Cut
2012	$2,726,735,645	$2,622,067,759*	$104,668,886
2013	$2,775,256,398	$2,644,994,272*	$130,262,126
2014	$3,076,958,886	$2,946,339,375	$130,619,511
2015	$3,097,480,516**	$3,053,520,321	$  43,960,195

*Reallocated CT Tech High School Budget excluded from these numbers because they are not included in the Current Services Budget number.

**Excludes $35,171,172 of Early Childhood Education funding which is reallocated and not included in the Governor’s Recommended Budget​

Source: Dept. of Education Budget. Links to sources: http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/budget/2012_2013_biennial_budget/education.pdf.; http://www.ct.gov/opm/lib/opm/budget/2014_2015_biennial_budget/budgetindetail/education.pdf

2. The Governor’s recommendation for general fund spending on K-12 education has declined as a percent of total general fund (GF) spending (Source: Office of Policy Management Biennial Budget Reports):
 

Fiscal Year​	Total GF Appropriations	Department of Education	Percent of Total
2012	$18,268,100,000	​​$2,794,792,173	15.3%
2015	$20,888,500,000	$3,053,520,321​​​​	14.6%

 

3. The overall effect of the Governor’s fiscal policies have resulted in school districts across Connecticut having to cut local school budgets as is clear in the following articles:

http://www.ctpost.com/local/article/Towns-cities-fight-to-restore-school-bus-funds-4520201.php

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20140512/alder-quizzes-board-on-new-haven-schools-funding

http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20140515/new-haven-schools-to-close-early-childhood-daycare-program

http://articles.courant.com/2014-05-20/community/hc-east-hartford-schools-budget-0521-20140520_1_school-board-board-chairman-jeffrey-currey-school-system

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/East-Windsor-Lays-Off-20-School-Staff-Members-257242261.html

"Nothing is more important to Connecticut’s future than the quality of our K-12 schools.  Despite a lot of promises and hype, Governor Malloy is underinvesting in schools, has failed to deliver funding for many of the education reforms he promised, and has mandated unpopular changes at schools and school districts that were performing well under local control.

"Since 2009, of the 12 categories of NAEP tests used to measure the “achievement gap”, Connecticut lost ground on two, stayed the same on nine, and improved on one.  Connecticut’s achievement gap, the worst in the country, has not improved under Governor Malloy.

"Governor Malloy trying to say we’ve made progress with Connecticut’s schools will be insulting to the estimated 100,000 students who are in underperforming schools and their parents.   More can and must be done to provide every child in Connecticut a decent education."