DANBURY, Conn. A federal plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the national budget may have a big impact on the Danbury school system.
Youve heard the word sequestration in recent months the federal plan created last year to force Congress to cut the debt. In January, $1.2 trillion is slated to be sliced from the federal budget. The cuts would be over 10 years. Half would come from military spending and half from other government agencies and programs.
Among the agencies facing cuts is the Department of Education, which sends billions of dollars to states and municipalities for school programs. Danburys portion, more than $4 million in grants, could face a cut of about 8 percent or more.
At the federal level, officials in both parties are hoping to strike a deal to avoid the mandatory cuts, which were agreed to in the summer of 2011 during a nasty debt ceiling fight. But if a deal is not reached, the cuts will come in January, and Danbury could lose a lot of money.
The amount Danbury could lose swings from $320,000 to $378,000, according to schools Superintendent Sal Pascarella.
Danbury receives grant money under such initiatives as the Title 1 program, which is used to improve academic achievement for disadvantaged students, and Title 2 program, which is designed for teacher and administrative training.
In a letter this month to U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Pascarella urged Blumenthal to strike a deal to avoid the cuts. As he said in the letter, on a national level the cuts could affect could lead to potentially significant job losses and program eliminations for the nations schools, the educators who run them, and the students they educate.
Pascarella spoke about the impact of sequestration during a meeting of the Danbury Board of Education on Wednesday night.
At this point, I have to plan on the cuts happening, Pascarella said during the meeting. We dont know whos going to get elected or whether they will reach a deal.
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