Lamont vetoes special education money, lawmakers consider override

Gov. Ned Lamont vetoed $40 million in funding for special education, setting up a possible showdown with lawmakers over the money.

Legislative leaders will now have to decide whether they want to vote to override the governor after nearly unanimously approving the money last week.

Lamont (D-Connecticut), fresh off an economic trip to India, told reporters the spending will put the state further over the spending cap.

“I think it’s the wrong way to budget, uh, pay now – you know, buy it now, pay it later,” he said.

Lamont’s using line-item vetoes to cancel this appropriation and another $2.9 million for nonprofits, including planned parenthood.

The line-item vetoes mean Lamont will allow the rest of the two expansive bills – including allowing UConn and other schools to pay athletes, once the NCAA makes the change, and a ban on police using Chinese-made drones – to go into law.

Lawmakers can override either veto with a two-thirds majority in each chamber.

The $2.9 million for nonprofits was approved along party lines, meaning Democrats would either need to flex their slim veto-proof majorities or convince Republicans to change a vote if they move ahead with an override.

The special education funding, though, was part of a bill that passed unanimously in the Senate and saw little opposition in the House.

Local school officials are urging lawmakers to approve the bill again.

“Those are resources that they have already expended and there is precious little time to make up that gap that has been created by a lack of state funding,” Connecticut Association of Boards of Education Executive Director Patrice McCarthy said.

Sens. Martin Looney (D-President Pro Tem) and Bob Duff, (D-Majority Leader) issued a statement Monday saying they’re contemplating an override.

Some Democrats said they’ve already decided how they’d vote.

“Really what it does when the governor doesn’t provide the state money, it puts the burden on the local property taxpayers,” Rep. Jennifer Leeper (D-Fairfield), a co-chair of the legislature’s Education Committee, said.

Lamont has included $40 million in additional special education funding in his budget proposal, which would take effect July 1 if approved.

Sen. Sujata Gadkar Wilcox, who co-chairs a select committee on special education, said local school officials have said the money is needed in the current budget year.

“This decision undermines the needs of our school districts, our local tax-payers and above all - our most vulnerable students,” she said.

Republicans said they need to talk about how they would vote should Democrats bring the bill back.

They also said the time to address this problem was back in the spring, when Democrats decided to spend unused pandemic-related federal aid instead of reopening the state budget.

“It's important to remember that republicans had a plan to fully fund special education the correct way in may before we adjourned and it fell on def ears,” Rep. Joe Polletta (R-Watertown) said.