Connecticut Teaching Jobs Could be Cut

Posted on March 10, 2009

If the State of Connecticut adopts the General Assembly‘s budget deficit mitigation plan, it could mean the loss of Connecticut teaching jobs.

Gov. M. Jodi Rell is urging legislative leaders to adopt the spending cuts outlined in her own plan to help avoid cuts to state employees and higher education. Rell’s plan proposes $6.3 million in additional agency spending reductions, while the Legislature’s plan would require $20 million in unspecified cuts.

“I have cut agency spending over and over – and I have done everything in my power to avoid state employee layoffs in this extraordinarily difficult economic climate,” Rell said in a press release. “In every agency, I have cut the two biggest line items – personal services and other expenses – to the bone. The only exception has been higher education, which has seen just one round of cuts because I did not want students and parents to endure tuition increases in the midst of an economic downturn.

“At this point in the budget – and at this point in the fiscal year – any meaningful cuts in personal services will now necessarily result in layoffs, while further reductions in other expenses will result in cuts to higher education,” Rell continued. “There is simply no way around it. The Legislature needs to understand that this is the result of the choices they have made – and that other choices are available.”

Rell’s plan also proposed: $42.4 million in savings by moving forward changes in the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years; $7. million in deappropriations from 2007 and $30.1 million in other savings. Of those suggestions, the General Assembly adopted $18.1 million, $3.5 million and $12.2 million, respectively.

“Surely any combination of those spending cuts would be preferable to layoffs, tuition increases or cutbacks in higher education – especially now, as our state works harder than ever to not only get through these difficult economic times but to position ourselves for success when the economy picks up again,” Rell added.