Vo-Tech Schools Could Close, Layoffs Loom in Possible Spending Cuts

It sounds like a broken record, but once again Connecticut is talking about potential layoffs, and plans are being considered to closed two vocational schools.

Fixed costs are estimated to increase by $1.1 billion for the next fiscal year, and Gov. Dannel Malloy has asked state agencies to come up with proposals that would take into account a 10 percent reduction in spending, according to the Hartford Courant.

The state so far has created 1,250 vacancies through a combination of layoffs and attrition.

The state ended fiscal year 2015-2016 with an estimated $315 million budget deficit and is aiming to close a projected $1 billion deficit for the 2016-2017 fiscal year without raising taxes, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

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Across-the-board spending cuts may lead the State Board of Education to cut two vocational education schools.

The proposed cut comes at a time of much positive manufacturing news in the state. A deal was made with Sikorsky to keep the company in Stratford until at least 2032 and retain and grow about 8,000 jobs. Sikorsky also pledged to double its spending of $350 million a year among in-state suppliers.

Several elected officials railed against the proposal and called it unfathomable to think that it would even come up as an option.

“At this point we are calling on the governor to step into the process to stop this from even being considered,” said House Majority Leader Joe Aresimowicz.

Aresimowicz and other Democrats proposed stripping the State Board of Education of authority over the vocational schools.

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Malloy tried to diffuse the situation at an unrelated press conference, according to the Connecticut Mirror. He said his office sends a memo to state departments to give a budget that reflects a 5 or 10 percent cut and that “we can’t be the thought police…” when it comes to proposals.

Malloy added that he wants to see what the legislature would cut out of the budget to get a 10 percent reduction in spending.

Manufacturing accounted for more than 168,000 jobs in the state during 2015, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The Connecticut Technical High School System would need a total reduction of $16.3 million under the State Board of Education proposal. Cutting athletics at all schools would account for $3 million, and closing two schools would save $11.4 million, according to the Hartford Courant.

Bridgeport Fittings Executive Vice President Tom Auray said at a Thursday press conference that his business partners with vo-tech schools to offer apprenticeships to students. Many of those apprenticeships turn into good-paying jobs and the school system has a consistent track record of turning out high-quality workers.

“If we did not have the technical school system it would put us in a monumental setback,” he said.

About a quarter of the company’s workforce will enter retirement age in the next five years, and the vo-tech college system serves as a pipeline to fill those soon-to-be vacancies, he said.

House Deputy Majority Leader Michelle Cook, a Democrat from Torrington, said she doesn’t understand why a vo-tech school cut would be proposed at a time when the manufacturing industry is growing in Connecticut. There are currently about 11,000 students in the vocational schools, and there would be another 11,000 if there was space.

“I’m taken back by the fact that we’d even have this conservation,” she said.

If anything, spending on vocational education should increase, not decrease, Cook said, adding that some vo-tech schools have had unfilled vacancies for up to 300 days.

File photo credit: Tim Jensen