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Showing posts from May, 2018

Council sends $511 million school rebuild to November voters

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  The Enfield Town Council voted unanimously to approve a $511 million school project, supported by an $89 million town share. Voters will have final say in November.  The Town Council voted Wednesday unanimously to send a $511 million plan to Enfield voters to rebuild the town's elementary school system. The town's cost is $89 million, and that's what voters will be asked to approve in November. The plan builds four new PK-5 schools on the sites of Hazardville Memorial, Prudence Crandall, Edgar H. Parkman and Henry Barnard, and converts Eli Whitney into a new home for Eagle Academy. Work runs in two phases. The entire project will take seven to eight years. Mayor Gina Cekala said Enfield doesn't have much choice. "$89 million is a lot of money. It sounds like a lot of money. It is a lot of money," she said. But she put the town's share in proportion. Of the $511 million, "Enfield is going to be responsible for a maximum of 17% of this project."...

Connecticut Millennials are overpaying for higher education

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The new Democratic nominee for governor, New Lamont, says he wants to make make community college free for those students with "financial need." That's great, except just about everyone graduating from college today is in "financial need." My benchmark on this issue is from my own experience. I started attending Central Connecticut State University in 1976. A full year – two semesters – cost an in-state resident in tuition and fees $601.  Adjusted for inflation, the $601 tuition/fees that I paid in 1976 should be, in today's 2018 dollars, $2,693. For the 2017-18 academic year, the in-state tuition and fees at CCSU is $10,225 – adjusted for inflation, that is almost four times my cost Moreover, I did not pay tuition because my non-combat military service was Vietnam era. (The state still has a  v eteran waiver , but I'm not sure if it's as comprehensive.) When I was a Connecticut student, I can't recall anyone complaining about th...