State Panel Named to Look Into Education Funding

Two Stamford residents have been appointed to the Education Cost Sharing task force, new panel charged with looking into improving the grants program.

No other Fairfield County residents appear to have been chosen for the panel, which is officially named the "Task Force to Study State Funding for Education in the Context of State Constitutional Requirements".

Stamford resident and former Board of Education president Dudley Williams was one of the six members hand picked by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy.

House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, a Norwalk Republican, picked fellow GOP state Rep. Michael Molgano, also of Stamford and a member of the General Assembly's Education, Finance, Revenue & Bonding committees.

Dudley is one of twelve selected to the task force. Six other members of the leadership of the General Assembly each picked a member, as well.

He is currently GE Asset Management Group's director of district education strategy and also served on the Stamford Board of Education from 1995-2004.

"It is our responsibility to routinely review the distribution of education grants to municipalities to ensure that communities are receiving a fair share of dollars under grant distribution rules, especially in light of constitutional requirements," Malloy said in a news release.

“As I’ve said before, much more needs to be done to improve the education our children are receiving in this state, and I intend on focusing the 2012 legislative session on education issues, concerns and ways in which we can better prepare our students for a global economy," Malloy said.

According to Gov. Malloy's office, the task force will examine "state grants to interdistrict magnet schools and regional agricultural science and technology centers as well as special education costs for the state and municipalities." 

The task force will submit it's final findings and recommendations by January 2, 2012 and its final report by October 1, 2012.