State spending on school construction dropped sharply over last decade

A Washington D.C. think tank recently released figures that show Connecticut’s capital spending on school construction dropped by 45% from 2008 to 2017.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities also said that Connecticut was one of five states that cut school capital spending “drastically” — by half or more — as a share of the state’s economy.

Michael Leachman, senior director of state fiscal research for the center, said he considers the economy measurement important because it shows that the state “has cut support for school capital spending deeply even after you account for the fact that its economy was really hurt by the last downturn.”

He said that schools need to be of “good quality and safe and well-heated or cooled or whatever. The lights need to be on. It’s pretty straightforward and if you cut the revenue you have available, you’re going to be less able to do those things.”

Read more: https://ctmirror.org/2019/09/06/state-expenditure-on-school-construction-dropped-sharply-over-last-decade/