Hartford, CT – Last week, John McKinney and the GOP caucuses released a budget proposal with $9 million in education cuts. This week, McKinney said the following at the Business Council of Fairfield County GOP debate on the importance of education: “Do we spend too much money? Yes. Do we need to spend less? Yes. But education is not one of those areas where we should be short-sighted. There’s plenty of other waste in government that we can cut.” But yesterday, when McKinney had another chance to restore education funding to match his words at the debate, he put out an updated budget with the same $9 million education cuts.

“As I said yesterday, John McKinney is a hypocrite with no credibility at all. He just proposed slashing millions of dollars in education funding again in his updated GOP alternative budget, but yet he tells the cameras we can’t cut education. Unbelievable. John McKinney needs to retract his statement from the debate or restore all of the education cuts in his budget proposal.  This is not leadership, it’s just more political pandering,” said Nancy DiNardo, Connecticut Democratic Party Chairwoman.

WATCH THE DEBATE CLIP: [youtuber youtube=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y5Ioc_MWHA&feature=youtu.be’]

TRANSCRIPT:

John McKinney: You know, education is perhaps the great equalizer.

And we know that early education is the most critical. Birth to 3 programs and preschool.

So I was happy to support a bill the other day that would allow parents who don’t have the ability, or the slots, to send their kid to pre-school if they want to.

Let’s be clear. I have three kids. We were able to send them all to a preschool at a congregational church. We’re not changing that system, we’re not forcing parents to send their kids to preschool if they don’t want to.

But what we’re saying is, for those parents who don’t have preschool slots available in their communities, who don’t have the financial means, we’re going to provide some help. Because we know the best way to start that child off in life is to give them an early education.

In terms of the financing, that was not part of the measure. I would not support the financing that had been proposed by the Democrats.

There’s a more honest, fair way of balancing our budget. Do we spend too much money? Yes. Do we need to spend less? Yes.

But education is not one of those areas where we should be short-sighted. There’s plenty of other waste in government that we can cut.

We need to make sure that if a parent wants to make the decision to send their kid to a preschool, that the available options and slots are there. And that money should not be a barrier.

Background:

$9 Million in Cuts to Education

The GOP Alternative Budget Proposal Calls For Reducing The State Department Of Education By Approximately $6 Million. [Honest and Responsible Alternative Budget Adjustments Summary 5/1]

The GOP Alternative Budget Proposal Calls For Reducing A Block Grant to CSU By $3 Million. [Honest and Responsible Alternative Budget Adjustments Summary 5/1]

 

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