Officials at the Ansonia Nature Center are still planning to develop a preschool at its Red Wing Pondhouse next fall despite Gov. M. Jodi Rell removing a $25,000 outlay for it from the state budget.
The nature center money was part of $8.3 million in last-minute earmarks that Rell vetoed from the state budget.
The two-year, $36 billion budget will go into effect Tuesday, as Rell has indicated that she will not sign it. Under the state Constitution, the bill becomes law without her signature five days after the legislature approves it.
Nature Center Director Donna Lindgren said the money would have been used to prepare the pondhouse, located on the Nature Center property off Deerfield Lane, for a nature-based preschool program.
“We’re disappointed,” Lindgren said. “We’re still trying to get funding where we can get it. We’ve had setbacks before, but we’ve managed to come out ahead.”
Rell spokesman Adam Liegeot said the Nature Center money was taken out because it was considered pork barrel spending.
“This item was inserted into the budget by Democratic legislators at the last minute,” Liegeot said. “While this project is, of course, well intentioned, it is pork.”
Lindgren said it would cost about $100,000 to start the tuition-based day care program. The nature center is still seeking money from other sources, but
Lindgren declined to say where she was requesting funds.
The Red Wing Pondhouse had previously hosted an Ansonia School District readiness program for preschoolers.
The city’s Board of Education ended the program last June in anticipation of a state-mandated restructuring of Ansonia schools.
