Perkins
With all the attention surrounding the Board of Apportionment and Taxation continuing to fight to, in the state of Connecticut’s words, illegally take away $600,000 from the Ansonia Board of Education, it seems that the few residents that are on BOAT’s side have been fed misinformation.
I am of course talking about grant funding.
For those of you who don’t know what a grant is, a grant is money given to an organization for a specific purpose. These can come from the state government, the federal government, or other foundations and institutions. Grants are used for supplemental funds, and in the case of the Ansonia School District, used to better the educational environment of all students.
Grants are often given for very specific purposes under very specific conditions.
For example, the Matthies grant for HRC is a two year grant of $26,000 that is only to be used for support of the Human Relations Club. Other grants, such as the Valley community grants, are for special projects that the Ansonia School District undergoes.
As I mentioned, grants are given for very specific purposes under very specific conditions. These can range anywhere from timeframe, amount of children attending public schools, median income, average test scores, and the list goes on and on.
Looking at the proposed 2018 – 2019 Board of Education budget (http://www.ansonia.org/filestorage/478/2018 – 2019_Proposed_Ansonia_Board_of_Education_budget.pdf), the Ansonia School District can lose over $3,000,000 in grant income.
I bring this up not because of this substantial loss, but to show just how volatile these grants are.
It is honestly frustrating to hear officials at City Hall throw around the excuse of grant funding. The truth of the matter is grants should not be used for necessary funding. Grants should be, and are designed to be, used as supplemental funding for programs and resources.
Attempting to budget with such capricious income is a job that I don’t envy anybody for having to do. So imagine the frustration of the Board of Education when $600,000, a sum of money that they thought was stable, is attempted to be illegally stripped from them. It is a devastating loss.
Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric and misinformation. Read the proposed Board of Education budget for yourself, then ask yourself if it’s missing information like BOAT says it is. I know I’ve called for a reconciliation of the budget, and I implore the City of Ansonia to do the same. Taking money from the reserve fund to offset expenses is not only egregious, it is also unsustainable. If we do not fix these issues now, Ansonia is headed for a financial crisis.
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